What is energy you may ask? To put it simply, energy is the ability to do work. According to a law of motion, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be changed. Two forms of energy are kinetic energy and potential energy. Kinetic energy is energy of motion. Literally every single thing that's moving has kinetic energy. (Ex: cars, planes, trucks, someone running, etc...) Potential energy is stored energy. It can be found in elastic objects(rubber bands/springs), chemical bonds within food and fossil fuels, and objects above the ground that have potential to fall. We are starting to use more and more energy as the years go by. In fact, the amount of energy Americans use doubles every 20 years.
I've put together some interesting facts about energy that you might find interesting.
-Only 10% of the lightbulb is used to create light and the other 90% of the lightbulb's energy creates heat.
-The world's biggest blackout occurred on August 14, 2004.
-Enough sunlight reaches earth's surface each minute to satisfy the world's energy demands for a year.
-The United States produces half of it's energy from coal.
-Heating and cooling rooms use the most energy in the American homes today.
-American hospitals are some of the most intense energy buildings on the planet.
-There are two basic groups of energy.
-Renewable energy (solar, water, and wind power)
-Non renewable energy (fossil fuels, coal, oil, natural gas)
(2011) Random History
Retrieved from: http://facts.randomhistory.com/energy-facts.html
Date accessed: Jan 2015
Great article Monserrat! I'm always up for some random science facts. One fact that really struck me was the light bulb using only 10% of the energy to make light. The other 90% goes to heat! I wonder what the difference is between incandescent (old bulbs that get really hot), fluorescent bulbs (the twirly twist looking kind), and LED bulbs (new kind that's still a bit expensive in stores). ,
ReplyDeleteFluorescent bulbs and LED bulbs use much less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. In my house, I have both and I can feel the difference in heat. The incadescents get too hot to touch. Fluorescents get warm, but I can still usually touch them. I don't have any LED bulbs yet, but I'll probably switch to them when the price drops a bit.
Random fact for you! :) TX has the most wind power of any state. It reached its highest capacity in 2014 when wind power peaked at creating 29% of the state's power. That's HUGE compared to a lot of other states. Drive to West TX sometime if you haven't. It's super cool to see the wind farms for miles. Here's the article where I got the fact - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wind-power-production-record-broken-in-texas/
I really like the fun facts of the energy and of the light bulb. I learned a lot about the light bulb and electricity and how it works.
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