Kinetic Energy: Energy of Motion

Lab Brief #3

🎯 Your mission

Master the concept. Use it tomorrow.

⚡ The twist

Energy never disappears — it just hides somewhere else.

What you'll learn

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. A moving car, a rolling ball, and a flying bird all have kinetic energy. The faster an object moves, the more kinetic energy it has.

Key words

kinetic energy
The energy an object has because it is moving.
potential energy
Stored energy an object has because of its position or shape.
energy
The power to make things move, grow, or change.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: which will move faster, and why?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Create a Rube Goldberg machine with at least 5 steps that demonstrates energy transfer from one form to another.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Note any unexpected results and think about why they happened.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Share your findings with the class or a partner and discuss what you learned.

Question 1 of 3

What type of energy does a moving object have?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

What type of energy does a stretched rubber band have?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

What form of energy does food contain?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

⚡ Static electricity is the same physics as lightning, just smaller.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: Potential Energy: Stored Energy All lessons

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This is why airplanes can fly and why rockets reach space.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): This week, find one thing in your house that turns one kind of energy into another.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Show me something at home that uses this kind of energy.”

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