What is energy?

Energy is the power or ability to do work. It makes things change, it does things for us.

Everything we do is connected to energy in one form or another. Inside our bodies energy makes us grow, move about, think and keep us warm. In the world around us, energy gives us light and heat in our homes; it powers our machines and runs our cars.

You cannot make energy and you cannot get rid of it, you can only change it into another type of energy. Over the years, people have learnt how to change energy from one form to another. This has helped to make our lives more comfortable and easy.

In this section we look at the many different forms of energy: light, heat, sound, movement (kinetic), electrical, chemical, elastic and gravitational.

Information sheets:
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Activities:
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