Chains of Energy

A subject I intended to cover over a week or so ended up being so much fun that we took two full weeks plus a few fun side tracks before we finished it.

The law of conservation of energy states that energy can not be created or destroyed.  Instead, energy transfers and changes forms: light, sound, heat, mechanical, chemical, etc.

First, we needed to establish that energy can be transferred from one object to another.  The easiest way to do that is to bounce two balls one on top of the other.  The energy from the bottom ball is transferred into the upper ball when they hit the ground, causing the top ball to fly much farther than it ever would have on its own.  Such a genius simple idea.  I would love to take credit, but as usual, I spotted this gem on E is for Explore!.  They just have a great way of making these ideas so simple.

We illustrated the idea of energy moving from one thing to another over and over again (making energy chains) using dominoes (technically, these pieces are from Colorfall, making them much more colorful and fun than ordinary dominoes). The kiddoes kept building paths and knocking them over for a long while.

Then, the important twist: energy can also change forms as it transfers.  We pulled out our old friends the Snap Circuits to demonstrate this concept. Our Snap Circuits Light kit allowed us to make our energy change form numerous times. We started with chemical energy in the battery, which changed to electrical energy running through the circuits, which became light energy with bulbs and fiber optic wire, which then moved across the room and turned into sound energy through the speaker.

We did some other demonstrations of energy changing forms, but our Snap Circuits certainly won the day and illustrated the concept perfectly.

--Little Miss Crazy