Define Energy

Question

Dear teacher

People say : energy is the ability to do work

But then" what is work ?" I asked : they said " work is energy tranfered by force "

Bla , they use energy to define work and work to define energy ( this make no sense )

 

So what I think is :

 

Energy is actually velocity . Why do I think like that ?

Because , every thing from the univer is make of Atoms .

Heat is energy , and heat is produce by increase the velocity of atoms .

Energy from this atom transfer to another atom by collision . What is it that was actually tranfered ?

It's the velocity of the atom that is tranfered by collison .

 

And big things like car , cat , baby , plane (you know the ideal ) ... The faster they move the higher energy which they contain ( and when big things smash it other it tranfer energy which is velocity (  some of this velocity is heat due to big thing make from bilions of atoms , but like I said heat is velocity )

 

Am I right ? Dear teacher ,can you  show me where I am wrong . ( Oh and potential energy,is the ability to produce actually energy .We are talking about actually energy so I dont think we should bring  potential energy in )

Thanks for reading my question . I hope my bad English won't mind you .

 

 

 

 

Answer 1

While the definition for energy, is the ability or do work or transfer heat, it is not velocity. 

 

Energy can be broken down into several forms such as kinetic, potential and heat energy.  Kinetic energy is the energy used to move an object that has mass. Potential energy is the energy an object possesses by virtue of its position or chemical composition. And heat energy is the energy used to cause an increase in the temperature of an object.  There are also other forms of energy, these are the three basic ones. 

 

Work is the applying of a force over a certain distance.

        w=F×d

(where w is work, F is the force, and d is the distance over which the force is exerted.)  

Energy is used to create the force that moves the object of the distance, giving the object the ability to do work as said in your first definition. 

 

 

Answer 2

Dear Jack, 

  Yes, you are correct to infer a close relationship between heat energy, it is closely related to the velocity of its atoms in a sense.  The temperature of a gas is related to the root mean square velocity of its atoms.

 

What makes energy such a powerful and useful concept is that if we define "kinetic energy" as one-half of the mass of a moving object times the square of its velocity, and "potential energy" as the amount of stored energy (energy that could be converted to other forms), and various other forms of energy (electrical, electromagnetic, sound, surface waves, nuclear energy (when mass becomes energy!), etc), then the total of all of the forms of energy involved in a problem, stays constant!  This is a very useful idea and helps us solve certain problems more easily than would have been possible without this concept.

 

The idea of everything in the universe being made of atoms is a good start!  There are some things in the universe that aren't exactly atoms but talking about that idea further delves into what an atom is made of.