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Energy

Energy can be defined as the capacity to supply heat or do work. One type of work ( w )    is the process of causing matter to move against an opposing force. For example, we do work when we inflate a bicycle tire—we move matter (the air in the pump) against the opposing force of the air already in the tire.

Like matter, energy comes in different types. One scheme classifies energy into two types: potential energy    , the energy an object has because of its relative position, composition, or condition, and kinetic energy    , the energy that an object possesses because of its motion. Water at the top of a waterfall or dam has potential energy because of its position; when it flows downward through generators, it has kinetic energy that can be used to do work and produce electricity in a hydroelectric plant ( [link] ). A battery has potential energy because the chemicals within it can produce electricity that can do work.

Two pictures are shown and labeled a and b. Picture a shows a large waterfall with water falling from a high elevation at the top of the falls to a lower elevation. The second picture is a view looking down into the Hoover Dam. Water is shown behind the high wall of the dam on one side and at the base of the dam on the other.
(a) Water that is higher in elevation, for example, at the top of Victoria Falls, has a higher potential energy than water at a lower elevation. As the water falls, some of its potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. (b) If the water flows through generators at the bottom of a dam, such as the Hoover Dam shown here, its kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy. (credit a: modification of work by Steve Jurvetson; credit b: modification of work by “curimedia”/Wikimedia commons)

Energy can be converted from one form into another, but all of the energy present before a change occurs always exists in some form after the change is completed. This observation is expressed in the law of conservation of energy: during a chemical or physical change, energy can be neither created nor destroyed, although it can be changed in form. (This is also one version of the first law of thermodynamics, as you will learn later.)

When one substance is converted into another, there is always an associated conversion of one form of energy into another. Heat is usually released or absorbed, but sometimes the conversion involves light, electrical energy, or some other form of energy. For example, chemical energy (a type of potential energy) is stored in the molecules that compose gasoline. When gasoline is combusted within the cylinders of a car’s engine, the rapidly expanding gaseous products of this chemical reaction generate mechanical energy (a type of kinetic energy) when they move the cylinders’ pistons.

According to the law of conservation of matter (seen in an earlier chapter), there is no detectable change in the total amount of matter during a chemical change. When chemical reactions occur, the energy changes are relatively modest and the mass changes are too small to measure, so the laws of conservation of matter and energy hold well. However, in nuclear reactions, the energy changes are much larger (by factors of a million or so), the mass changes are measurable, and matter-energy conversions are significant. This will be examined in more detail in a later chapter on nuclear chemistry. To encompass both chemical and nuclear changes, we combine these laws into one statement: The total quantity of matter and energy in the universe is fixed.

Questions & Answers

How was CH4 and o2 was able to produce (Co2)and (H2o
Edafe Reply
explain please
Victory
First twenty elements with their valences
Martine Reply
what is chemistry
asue Reply
what is atom
asue
what is the best way to define periodic table for jamb
Damilola Reply
what is the change of matter from one state to another
Elijah Reply
what is isolation of organic compounds
IKyernum Reply
what is atomic radius
ThankGod Reply
Read Chapter 6, section 5
Dr
Read Chapter 6, section 5
Kareem
Atomic radius is the radius of the atom and is also called the orbital radius
Kareem
atomic radius is the distance between the nucleus of an atom and its valence shell
Amos
Read Chapter 6, section 5
paulino
Bohr's model of the theory atom
Ayom Reply
is there a question?
Dr
when a gas is compressed why it becomes hot?
ATOMIC
It has no oxygen then
Goldyei
read the chapter on thermochemistry...the sections on "PV" work and the First Law of Thermodynamics should help..
Dr
Which element react with water
Mukthar Reply
Mgo
Ibeh
an increase in the pressure of a gas results in the decrease of its
Valentina Reply
definition of the periodic table
Cosmos Reply
What is the lkenes
Da Reply
what were atoms composed of?
Moses Reply
what is chemistry
Imoh Reply
what is chemistry
Damilola
what is chemistry
Bl Reply

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Source:  OpenStax, Chemistry. OpenStax CNX. May 20, 2015 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11760/1.9
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