Hayden Koller

2017
Electrical Energy
Electrical energy comes from the movement of
Home
electron. Everything from our phones to our
bodies use electrical energy for power, sending
signals, light, etc.
When electricity flows through certain metals and
materials it can experience a lot of resistance. The
resistance causes the metal to heat up (similar to
the heat friction generates when you rub your
hands together). This is the reason why phones Electricity (yellow) flows
and computers heat up when they are charging or through a metal wire
being used for a long period of time. This concept (silver)
forms the basis of many different devices such as
hot wire cutters, soldering irons, electric heaters,
and incandescent light bulbs!

Back As the electricity goes through the wire, the

metal begins to heat up (red) due to resistance
(friction)
When electricity is run through certain
chemicals, like those found in a battery, a Chemical A + Chemical B + Electricity =
chemical reaction occurs that creates new Chemical AB (battery)
substances. These new chemicals store energy This is what happens
within their bonds which can then be released inside a battery when it
again when they react. This reaction is charges
incredibly important for our civilization.
Without the ability to do this process, batteries This is what happens
and electrical energy storage would be inside a battery when it
impossible! is being used
Chemical AB (battery)=
Chemical A + Chemical B + Electricity

Back
When enough electrons are in a single
location (such as a cloud or the human body) An average static shock contains 20,000 Volts of
a negative charge is created. When this electricity while a lightning strike contains
charge becomes great enough it will arc 100,000,000(million) to 1,000,000,000(billion) volts!
through the air to the nearest positively Meanwhile a car battery only contains 14 volts!
charged object. When this occurs on the
small scale we call it a static shock and when
it happens within the atmosphere we call it
lightning. This arc and movement of The negative charge
electrons create a massive, bright flash! The (electrons) in the clouds This movement of
flash comes from the atoms of oxygen and travel through the air to electrons releases a
nitrogen in the air becoming energized from the positively charged bright flash of radiant
the electricity. light
ground
The most common and widely used method of turning
electrical energy into mechanical energy is the electric
motor. These little devices use an electric current to
generate a magnetic field which then spins the engine
spindle. Electric motors are used in everything from cell
phones to toys to trains and much more. As we begin to
transition from fossil fuels to greener energy the number
of electric motors in use is going to increase immensely.
The biggest thing holding this transition back is a little
device we use every single day: the battery. The biggest This force
issue with batteries are that they are very slow to charge causes the
As electricity flows from one
and they cant hold very much power. Electric trains needs motor spindle to
end of the battery, through
to have a battery the size of the train to work! turn (kinetic)
the motor, and back to the
other side of the battery a
force is generated in the
motor
Thermal Energy
Thermal energy and heat come from the microscopic vibrations of
Home
atoms and molecules. The lowest possible temperature is called
absolute zero and is 459.67F while the maximum temperature
possible is the Planck temperature 2.551032 F(thats 32 zeros!).
Meanwhile us humans can only survive if our internal temperature
stays at 98+/- 5!
Certain devices, such as a Seebeck generator or a thermoelectric
generator, are able to transform thermal gradients into electrical
energy. What this means is that when you put a heat gradient
across these devices (I.E. make one side hot and the other cold)
the generator can make electricity! The thermal energy moves Hot
from the hot side to the cold side; this movement creates
electricity which can be stored and utilized. We dont often use
these devices in our everyday life because they arent very Thermal
efficient. Efficiency in energy is a measure of how well one type of Electric Field energy
energy can be transformed into another. Low efficiency means flows from
that only a small amount of energy is transformed and the rest is hot to cold
lost to the environment. High efficiency means most of the
available energy can be transformed with very little lost to the Cold
environment. You can find these thermoelectric generators in
devices such as small camp stoves that use the heat they generate
to charge your phone!
There are many different chemical reactions that can
transform thermal energy into chemical energy. While Carbon Dioxide (low
these reactions may be vastly different they all have 1
thing in common: they are all endothermic. energy)
Endothermic reactions (endo=inside, thermos=heat)
are chemical reaction that must absorb heat from the + Water(low energy)
environment to occur. The heat energy absorbed is
transformed into the newly formed chemical bonds. + Heat (energy)
Some examples of this are ice melting, instant cold
packs (ammonium nitrate and water), and creating = Propane(high energy)
propane from carbon dioxide and water.
Compared to many other energy transformations the process
of turning thermal energy into radiant light energy is very Invisible Infrared light
simple. The most simple example of this process is an
incandescent lightbulb. When the lightbulbs filament is
heated up by electricity, it begins to glow and give off light.
What may surprise you is that this transformation occurs in
any object with any amount of thermal energy. This is known
as blackbody radiation. Blackbody radiation is the
electromagnetic radiation that is given off by an object as a
result of that object having heat. The human body gives off Very little thermal
infrared radiation (which our eyes can not see) at our normal energy
Lightbulb
body temperature. Some animals, such as snakes, or devices, Filament Visible yellow-white light
like infrared cameras, are able to sense and see this
radiation. As an object gets hotter its blackbody radiation
becomes more powerful (metals radiation turns from invisible
infrared to visible red light). If the human body could survive
the temperatures we would glow red if you heated us up to
2000 degrees!

Large amounts of thermal energy

 4000 degrees
Celsius

When atoms are heated up to incredibly high

temperatures and put under high pressure Big Atom with 4 2 Smaller atoms with 2 r
they are able to go through 1 of 2 nuclear red circles and 4 circles and 2 blue circles
reactions: fission or fusion. In nuclear fission a blue circles each
heavy radioactive element like uranium is
heated up to a couple thousand degrees
Celsius and crashed into another chunk of
uranium. This leads to a huge amount of
energy being released as the uranium breaks 14 million degrees Celsius
down into more stable elements like argon and
lead. In fission small elements like hydrogen
are heated up to around 14million degrees
Celsius and crashed into each other. This +
creates heavier elements like helium.
2 Smaller atoms with 2 red Big Atom with 4
circles and 2 blue circles red circles and 4
each blue circles
The atoms and molecules that make up matter, regardless Gasoline and air is pumped
of its phase(solid, liquid, gas, etc.), vibrate at a given into the cylinder
frequency. We cant usually feel these vibrations in our
daily lives because they are so fast and small but they
exist in all materials. As we heat a material up and add
thermal energy to it, these vibrations increase (the
molecules are turning the thermal energy into kinetic
energy). This is one of the most common energy
transformations we see in our everyday lives and is the The gasoline is detonated
principal that allows combustion engines to work. When and a huge amount of heat
the gas inside a piston cylinder combusts and explodes a is generated
huge amount of heat is generated. The heat causes the air
molecules in the cylinder to heat up, start vibrating more
which causes the gas to expand. As the gas expands the
piston moves generating kinetic energy. The heat causes the air
inside to expand (thermal to
kinetic) and move the
piston down
Chemical Energy Home
Chemical energy is the energy that is stored with chemical bonds. This
is where of the energy that allows our bodies to survive comes from!
Every time something is burned, reacted, or chemically altered
chemical energy is released or absorbed. Some common chemicals with
tons of energy are TNT, gasoline, sugar, and butter. Calories (like you
find on food packages) are a way of measuring how much energy a
food can provide us.
Certain chemical reactions involving ions are able to
generate electrical. Ions are chemicals that that have Chemical AB (battery)=
either a positive or negative charge (these charged come Chemical A + Chemical B + Electricity
form have extra/less electrons, the particles electricity is
made of, than they normally should). This energy
transformation is incredibly useful and is the process
behind one of the most important devices: the battery.
The actual reaction that a battery uses varies from battery
type to battery type, some high end batteries use lithium
metal while other use sulfuric acid(battery acid) and lead.
The conversion of chemical energy into thermal energy is an extremely Sugar molecule
common energy transformation (and could potentially be the most (glucose)
common). A very common example of this would be anytime Brown=Carbon
something is lit on fire or burned. When a object is lit on fire the Blue=Oxygen
chemical bonds making up the substance are broken and reformed into Yellow-Hydrogen
new chemicals. This process transforms the energy stored within the
chemical bonds to be released primarily as heat. The most common
chemicals created when an object is burned are carbon dioxide and
water. The process our body uses to get energy from food such as Sugar is mixed with
sugar is actually very similar to the process that occurs when food is Oxygen and ignited
burned! Both reactions break down the chemicals in food into carbon
dioxide and water and release energy in the form of, among other
forms, heat. We call these types of processes Exothermic Reactions.
Exothermic Reactions (exo=outside, thermos=heat) are any reactions
that release heat. Some examples are combustion, acid-base reactions,
corrosion, dissolving salt in water, and detonation of TNT.
It is very common for chemical reactions to generate heat and
electricity but some very special ones are able to generate radiant light
energy. There are several different forms of this reaction.
Chemiluminescent reactions are any type of light producing reaction
that occurs when chemicals are mix and change. A really common
example of this is a glow-stick, which when cracked causes 2 chemicals
to react and produce light. Bioluminescent reactions are
chemiluminescent reactions that occur in living things. Lightning bugs
and deep sea creatures like angler fish utilize this reaction to find
mates and hunt. Fluorescent chemicals are able to absorb high Bioluminescent Glow
intensity, invisible ultra-violet light and emit it back as visible light.
These materials only glow if the U.V. light is shinned on it. Certain
plastics, uranium glass, urine, scorpions, etc. are all fluorescent. Finally
Phosphorescent materials are chemicals that absorb light energy and
will than glow later. They are able to release the absorbed light over a
long period of time. These are found in glow-in-the-dark clothing, toys,
and green star ceiling stickers.
There are many examples of devices that can turn chemical fuels into heat Sugar Molecule
and than into kinetic energy. This is how internal combustion engines that
power cars, generators, etc. work. The issue with this example is that it is
not really a direct conversion of chemical energy into movement (the
energy first becomes heat, which than become kinetic). Finding a direct
conversion of chemical into kinetic energy without this thermal energy
intermediate can be challenging. In fact the place where we can find this
reaction occurring in is pretty unique and unexpected: Living things! All
living things from bacteria to elephants need to consume and use energy in
Sugar is broken down in the
the form of food. For humans food takes the form of fats(oil, butter, etc.),
body and its energy is than
proteins, and carbohydrates(sugars and starches). The process that energy
used to create ATP
is harvested can vary from living thing to living thing but humans break
molecules
down these food molecules into a molecule called ATP. ATP (Adenosine Tri-
Phosphate) is a tiny molecule that our bodies use to power everything from
our organs to our muscles. It takes more than a billion molecules of ATP
just to flex your arm!
ATP molecule
ATP can than be used to
power muscles or other
organs
Radiant Energy Home
Radiant energy is all forms of electromagnetic energy from low
energy radio waves to visible light to high energy gamma waves
and everything in-between! Light travels in waves, with each
specific type having a different wavelength (how long the wave
is from peak to peak) and frequency (how many waves go by in
a second). We call singular waves of light photons!
All matter vibrates at a specific frequency unique to that
material. This is known as the Resonant Frequency. When an Microwave oven
object is exposed to a wave with a frequency that matches its emits microwave
resonant frequency it will absorb the and start vibrating more. radiation
This increased vibration is felt as heat. This is the process that
allows microwave ovens to work! The electromagnetic
radiation they produce (microwave radiation) matches the
resonant frequency of water. This causes the water molecules
to start vibrating and heating up, which allows us to cook our
food!

The waves pass through the food

where they are absorbed by
water molecules in the food. The
water molecules than start
vibrating faster and cause the
food to heat up
The transformation of light into chemical energy is arguably the
most important reaction on earth: Photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis occurs in a variety of different living beings
(such as amoeba and algae) but is most commonly seen in
plants. In this process light energy from the sun is absorbed by
the bright green colored chlorophyll molecule (as well as blue,
red, yellow, etc. colored accessory pigments) and used to turn
carbon dioxide and water into glucose (sugar). This process is
responsible for creating nearly all the available food on Earth!
We are also looking into creating an artificial version of this Water
process to make fuel for cars and vehicles! Plant absorbs
Carbon Dioxide sunlight

Glucose
The transformation of Radiant light into kinetic energy is pretty
rare compared to other transformation. It can be found in devices
like the Crookes Radiometer which we believe spins due to the
absorption by and collision of light on the flags inside the bulb
(though scientists are still unsure of exactly how it works despite
it existing for more than 120 years!). Another example of this
transformation that is becoming increasingly more used is the
solar sail. Solar sails are large sail looking structures made of
extremely thin sheets of gold that are attached to space crafts.
When light hits the sail it generates a small amount of force that
pushes the craft forward (just like with a cloth sail and wind).
Since space is a vacuum there is no friction to oppose this force
meaning any force the light exerts will make the craft move. This
cant work on Earth because the small amount of acceleration light
generates is more than cancelled out by air resistance and
friction!
Taking inspiration from plants we have developed the
photovoltaic solar cell, a device which can harvest sunlight and Light is absorbed through these
transform it into a more usable form of energy. The difference panels
however, is that plants generate chemical energy using sunlight
while photovoltaic cells generate electrical energy. These
devices use special metallic compounds to capture high energy
radiant light. This light energizes electrons in the material
which generates an electric charge which can than be stored in
batteries (usually lead acid car battery style batteries). This
process is still very inefficient (less than 25% of the absorbed
sunlight is converted to electricity) but every year we make
new strides in improving light absorption and conversion.

And is stored in this battery after it is

converted into electricity
Nuclear Energy Home
Nuclear energy is the energy released when an atomic nucleus is
altered. There are two major ways this energy can be released: fission
or fusion. Fission is when a big, heavy, unstable element like uranium is
broken down into smaller more stable elements like lead or iodine. This
is the process we use in nuclear power plants or nuclear missiles!
Fusion is when two smaller elements, like hydrogen, are smashed
together into a bigger element, like helium. This is how stars like our
Sun get energy! We are trying to figure out how to fuse elements here
on Earth but we havent had much luck yet.
 The white smoke you
As radioactive materials decay, large amounts of energy and see coming out of the
high energy particles are released. These particles contain huge tower is just water
amounts of kinetic (due to the speed they are ejected at) and vapor and is perfectly
thermal energy (due to the extremely fast rate they vibrate). safe!
This is the transformation that allows nuclear power plants to
function. A large chunk of Uranium metal is allowed to decay
within a special designed container. The radiation given off by
the uranium heats up a vat of water until it gets hot enough to
evaporate into steam. This steam rises and spins a turbine
which generates electricity.

This is a nuclear cooling tower. This is where

part of the nuclear reaction takes place
There are 2 primary ways nuclear energy can become radiant
light energy. The first is gamma ray production. When nuclear
material decays it can spit out Alpha Particles (fast moving
In this material the alpha particle is moving
helium atoms), Beta Particles (a really fast moving electron), or
faster light in the material, which creates a
Gamma Rays (extremely high energy light waves invisible to
violet glow
our eyes). The second way is through something known as
Cherenkov Radiation. The universal speed limit is 299,792,458
meters per second, also known as the speed of light in a
vacuum. As far as we know nothing in the universe can exceed
this speed. While light can move at this speed, it can also move
more slowly depending on what material it travels through Alpha Particle
(light moves more slowly in things like water than in the
vacuum of space). If an Alpha or Beta Particle travels through
Light Wave
the right material can actually move faster than light, in that
material (it still moves slower than 299,792,458). When this
occurs the radioactive particles and material it moves through
will begin glowing blue or violet!
Speed of light in a vacuum
When Alpha and Beta Particles are released they are ejected at Alpha Particle strikes
very high speeds. When these particles collide with other a uranium atom
matter they can transfer this energy to that object. This causes
the struck matter to shatter or fly off at extremely high speeds!
This principle is what causes explosions in a nuclear missile.
High energy particles collide with uranium atoms which release
pure energy and other high speed particles which than collide
with other atoms. This process continues at an exponential
rate, with each cycle causing more and more energy production
until a massive explosion is created.

High energy gamma rays are released along

with several more alpha particles
Kinetic Energy Home
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion and is present in any
object that is moving. Kinetic energy takes a variety of different
forms depending on the object thats moving but all types of
something in common; the universal speed limit. No object or
particle known to science is able to move faster than the speed
of light in a vacuum. The speed of light is equal to 299,792,458
meters per second or roughly 185,000 miles per second!
 Friction also exist between the
One of the easier energy transformations to see is the change
air and the car, especially at
of kinetic energy to heat through Friction. When 2 objects in
high speeds!
contact slide past each other a variety of interactions between
the molecules in those materials are formed and broken. This
constant destruction and formation of interactions generates
large amounts of heat. Friction takes many different forms such
as air resistance, ground friction, water friction, and drag.

As this car moves along the road

the tires and road heat up due
to friction between the tires and
road. Some friction is necessary,
if it didnt exist the wheels
would just spin in place!
The transformation of kinetic energy into electrical An electric current is
energy is responsible for generating most of the power generated in the wire
we use. The devices responsible for this are know as coil
alternators and generators. In both devices a
spindle/crank is attached to a magnet that is surrounded
by a coil of copper wire. When the spindle is turned the
magnet spins which generates an electric current in the
wires. The electricity can than be stored in batteries
(usually lead acid batteries or lithium ion batteries) and
utilized by us. The source of the kinetic energy to turn
the spindle can come from any number of sources. It can
be human powered, attached to a turbine and turned by
steam, falling water, or waves, or attached to a propeller
blade and turned by wind.

Spinning magnet

Coil of copper wire