EGEE 102
Energy Conservation for Environmental Protection

Activity: Identifying Forms of Energy

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Can you identify the different forms of energy in the picture below? Enter your answer in the table below and click the "Check Answers" button to check your work.

Cartoon Picture labelled parts A-G identifying different forms of energy
Credit: Distribution of Emissions by Greenhouse Gases © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
Click link to expand for a text description of the figure

These things, listed below, represent the six fundamental forms of energy: Mechanical, Chemical, Thermal/Heat, Electrical, Nuclear and Radiation. Your task is to determine what form of energy is represented by each item.

  • Light bulb in a lamp post powered by?
  • Two women sitting at a picnic table drinking water. The arrow is pointing to the cups of water. One cup is sitting on the table and the other is in a woman's hand.
  • A doctor looking at an X-ray produced with?
  • A Frisbee flying through the air powered by?
  • The sun power by?
  • A man getting ready to hit a golf ball with a golf club. The arrow is pointing at the head of the golf club which is powered by?
  • A little boy eating an ice cream cone. The arrow is pointing to the ice cream that provided what to the child?

Now spend some time trying to identify the different forms of energy that are at work in the above items. Once you have thought through this and have some answers, read on to see if you are correct.

Answers

Light bulb in a lamp post - Electrical Energy

Cups of water. One is sitting on a table and the other is in a woman's hand. - Thermal or Heat Energy

An X-ray - Nuclear Energy

A Frisbee flying through the air - Mechanical (kinetic) Energy

The sun - Radiation

A golf club getting ready to hit a ball - Mechanical (Potential)

The ice cream in an ice cream cone - Chemical