Science4Fun
Science4 Fun: Geothermal Energy
What is geothermal energy? Discover how it is obtained and generated and learn about the advantages and disadvantages.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is Energy? Short Demos
Three short, hands-on, in-class demos expand students' understand of energy. First, using peanuts and heat, students see how the human body burns food to make energy. Then, students create paper snake mobiles to explore how heat energy...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?
That heat flows from hot to cold is an unfortunate truth of life. People have put a lot of effort into stopping this fact, however all they have been able to do is slow the process. Working in groups of three to four, students will...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Puck Stops Here
After learning about transfer of energy, specifically the loss of kinetic energy to friction, students get a chance to test friction. In groups they are given a wooden block, different fabrics, and weights and asked to design the "best"...
Science4Fun
Science4 Fun: Solar Energy
What is solar energy? Learn about solar heating, solar electricity generation, and the advantages and disadvantages of solar power.
Science4Fun
Science4 Fun: Heat
What is heat? Illustrated discussion of how heat is transferred and its effect on the states of matter.
Science4Fun
Science4 Fun: Heat Transfer
What is heat transfer? Illustrated discussion of the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, radiation.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Just Keep Cool How Evaporation Affects Heating and Cooling
When we get hot, we sweat. The physiological role of sweat is to cool us down. When the water evaporates, it removes energy from our bodies. This sort of evaporative cooling can also be used to cool homes, using what are referred to as...
Science Struck
Science Struck: Thermal Energy Facts
Explains what thermal energy is, describes some different types, and presents facts about each type.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Heat and Temperature
Learn that temperature measures average kinetic energy, and heat is the transfer of energy from hot systems to cold systems. Consider what makes a good conductor. (Requires Java)
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Bill Nye Demonstration: Smashing Asteroids
Watch and learn as Bill Nye the Science Guy demonstrates what happens when two steel spheres are smashed together. Enough heat is generated at the point of contact to burn a hole in a piece of ordinary paper. [1:05]
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What a Drag
Students learn about friction and drag - two different forces that convert energy of motion to heat. Both forces can act on a moving object and decrease its velocity. Students learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to...
Physics4kids
Physics 4 Kids: Heat and Thermal Energy
When scientists originally studied thermodynamics, they were really studying heat and thermal energy. Heat can do anything: move from one area to another, get atoms excited, and even increase energy. Did we say energy? That's what heat...