Energy Facts
Amazing facts you probably didn’t know about energy. Learn about various types of energy, about energy laws and much more. Share your knowledge with your classmates!
- Only 10% of energy in a light bulb is used to create light. The other 90% creates heat.
- There are two basic groups of energy: renewable and nonrenewable energy.
- Kinetic energy is one of two main types of energy. When something is in motion, it has kinetic energy.
- Potential Energy is stored energy. Examples of potential energy are oil sitting in a barrel.
- Mechanical Energy is the energy of motion that does the work. An example of mechanical energy is the wind as it turns a windmill.
- Heat energy is energy that is pushed into motion by using heat.
- Chemical Energy is energy caused by chemical reactions. A good example of chemical energy is food when it is cooked.
- Gravitational Energy is motion that is caused by gravity.
- Electrical Energy is when electricity creates motion, light or heat.
- The United States produces half of its electricity from coal.
- Renewable energy sources including biomass, hydro power, geothermal, wind, and solar.
- More than 10,000 homes in the United States are powered entirely by solar energy.
- Space missions have been using solar energy to power spaceships since 1958.
- The U.S. houses 5% of the world’s population, but uses 23% of the world’s energy.
- Thomas Edison built the first power plant, and in 1882 his Pearl Street Power Station sent electricity to 85 buildings.
- Albert Einstein defined energy as mass multiplied by the speed of light squared, or e=mc2.
- A “watt” is a unit of power that measures the rate of producing or using energy.
- Energy cannot be destroyed or created—only transformed.
- Food contains energy, which is measured in calories or joules.
- If a person yelled for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, he or she would produce enough energy to heat one cup of coffee.