This document discusses teaching energy concepts at the secondary level. It provides guidance on why and how energy is taught, challenges in teaching abstract energy concepts, and examples of hands-on experiments teachers can use. Key points include: energy is an abstract quantity that represents the ability to do work, distinguishing between types of energy can provide no explanation for physical processes, and conservation of energy defies common sense. Hands-on experiments help convey ideas about energy transfers and transformations between different forms.

1. Energy &
energy resources

2. Why & how teach energy?
In small groups, discuss:
 Why and how is energy taught at KS3?
 What do students gain from it?
 Is this a useful preparation for GCSE & A-level studies?
Jot a few things down so that you can report back.
5 minutes
2

3. It’s easy to go wrong
In what way is each of these statements wrong?
1. ‘The moving pencil uses kinetic energy.’ (QCA)
1. ‘The steam [from a volcano vent] is converted into energy and
transported to Europe via a 1,200-mile sea-floor cable.’ (a London
newspaper)
1. ‘Carbonaceous matter is converted to heat or other forms of
energy.’ (Physics World)
2. ‘Energy makes things happen.’ (ASE Big Ideas)
1. ‘The bulb lights because energy flows from the battery to the bulb.’
(Sophie, Year 9)
3

4. Energy historically
Steam engines:
• 1712 Newcomen,
efficiency ~1%,
• 1775 Boulton &
Watt, efficiency ~7%

5. Energy and power
by analogy
time
power
energy 

measured in joules, MJ or kWh
time
flow
me
water volu 

measured in litres
time
energy
power 
measured in joules per second,
W, MW, GW, TW, kWh per day
water
time
volume
flow 
measured in litres per minute

6. Energy today
How many Mars bars would I need to climb a mountain?
How much coal/oil do I use in a day?
Will UK electricity production match peak demand?
Can the Sun supply the world’s energy needs?
What is the efficiency of a motor?
How high can a projectile go?
Answering questions like this requires a calculation.
6

7. Learning outcomes
• describe physical processes in terms of energy stores and transfers
• distinguish between temperature and internal energy
• explain thermal transfers (conduction, convection, radiation)
• calculate the specific thermal capacity of metal objects
• discuss energy changes associated with change of state (latent heat)
• explain the law of conservation of energy, calculate efficiency in
energy transfers and recognise dissipation
• relate work done by a force to and
• describe rate of mechanical working as power
• apply energy concepts to decision-making about energy policy
• use a variety of experiments to convey key ideas about energy
Ep = mgh Ek =
mv2
2

8. Teaching challenges
• ‘Energy’, an everyday word, in science is an abstract quantity.
• Energy conservation defies common sense, as everyday
things ‘run out of energy’.
• Simply naming different types of energy, or energy chains,
provides no explanation for physical processes.
• Students find work done (force exerted over a distance) more
difficult than impulse (force exerted over an interval of time).
• Although temperature is a very familiar and tangible property,
it needs to be associated with the random thermal motion of
particles inside a body (internal energy).

9. What is ‘energy’?
‘A certain quantity that does not change’
‘It is not a description of a mechanism, or anything concrete; it
is just a strange fact that we can calculate some number and
when we finish watching nature go through her tricks and
calculate the number again, it is the same.’
Richard Feynman
The law of conservation of energy

10. Energy stores & pathways
Practical Physics guidance notes
• Helpful language for energy talk
• What’s wrong with ‘forms of energy’?
• Does energy make things happen?

11. SEP energy diagrams

12. A circus of energy experiments
Working in pairs, do as many experiments as
you can.
~30 minutes
[please do NOT write on instruction sheets]

13. Mechanical energy
For an object starting from rest,
Work done
Therefore no surprise that, in some mechanical systems,
e.g. roller coaster, or pendulum
W = F ´displacement = F ´(average velocity´time)
W = Ft ´
v
2
= mv(
v
2
) =
mv2
2
impulse = force´time = mv
mgh+
mv2
2
= constant

14. ‘Mechanical equivalent of heat’
Early in 19th C, ‘heat’ was thought to be a fluid, called ‘caloric’.
Many experiments, mainly 1840 – 1900, showed conversions of
heat to/from mechanical or electrical sources, leading to the
concepts of energy & energy conservation.
James Prescott Joule, Manchester brewer & amateur scientist.
40 expts! e.g. Swiss honeymoon: thermometer to measure temperature
of water at top & bottom of a waterfall.
1850 article, Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society)
Clausius, Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Helmholtz, Rankine
T
c
t
m
h
g
t
m



C
kg
J
c o
4200
water,
of
capacity
heat
specific 

15. Students often confuse …
Thermal energy (store)
Temperature Heating (pathway)
Average energy per particle
e.g. a sparkler is hot (high
temperature) because each
particle of metal has lots of
energy
e.g. a bath full of water is
not as hot (lower
temperature) because each
particle has less energy.
Directly measurable.
Total energy of the system
Depends on number of particles
in a body and the energy of
each one e.g. a sparkler has
less energy than a bath full of
water because there are many
more particles in a bath.
A process or pathway which
changes the energy store of an
object
15

16. Energy efficiency
Sankey diagrams
product labelling

17. Thermal transfers
Energy transfer from one store to another because of a
temperature difference.
conduction: Ek transferred from atom to atom
convection: bulk movement of a fluid caused by localised
thermal expansion and hence differences of density in the fluid.
radiation: warm body emits a continuous spectrum of
electromagnetic radiation, with peak frequency related to
absolute temperature.

18. Heat capacity
thermal store associated with a temperature
change but no change of state.
Start simple: Why is a bite of hot potato more likely to burn the tongue
than a bite of cabbage at the same temperature? Which foods stay
hot longer on your plate?
Thermal (heat) capacity of an object: energy stored or released by
an object per degree of temperature change, in J oC-1
‘Specific’ thermal capacity: energy stored or released by a kg of
material per degree of temperature change, in J kg-1 oC-1
Materials used as coolants have a high specific thermal capacity.
Table
T
mc
Q 


19. Experiments to determine c
• Electrical method
• Method of mixtures e.g. solid placed in water
energy lost by hotter object = energy gained by cooler object
NOTE: Both the equations above assume no heat loss. Insulate
calorimeter & include it in calculations.
• Using a cooling curve
ref: Nelkon & Parker Advanced level Physics
Practical Physics Energy collection ‘Thermal physics’
T
mc
IVt 

 object
by
gained
energy
supplied
energy
electrical
temp
m
equilibriu
the
is
where
,
)
(
)
( 3
2
3
2
2
1
3
1
1
T
T
T
c
m
T
T
c
m 



20. Latent heat
thermal store associated with a change of state
but no temperature change.
Term ‘latent’ introduced ~1750 by Joseph Black [derived
from the Latin latere, to lie hidden].
Fusion: reversible change solid to liquid
Vaporisation: reversible change liquid to vapour
Table
heat
latent
specific
mass

Q

21. Cooling or heating curves
previously schools used naphthalene (now hexadecanol)

22. Cooling or heating curves

23. Latent heat
Experiments
• Fusion: Melting ice in a calorimeter
• Vapourisation: passing steam through a calorimeter;
electrical method.
References: Nelkon & Parker Advanced level Physics,
Practical Physics Energy collection ‘Thermal physics’
Applications releasing energy as liquid changes to solid
• hot pad hand-warmer
• thermal energy storage in buildings

24. UK Energy futures
David MacKay, Sustainable energy – without the hot
air
Concerns about UK energy policy:
• Fossil fuels are a finite resource
• Security of energy supply
– for the UK population and the economy
– not reliant on foreign energy sources
– diversified sources mean more robust
• CO2 and climate change
‘Numbers, not adjectives’

25. A balance sheet
Energy consumed Energy produced
Cars Wind
Planes Solar
Heating and cooling Hydroelectricity
Lighting Offshore wind
Gadgets Waves
Food and farming Tide
Stuff – materials from cradle to grave Geothermal
Public services Fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas
Energy industries Nuclear

26. Ben Goldacre, Bad science
12 December 2009
Climate change? Well, we’ll be dead by then
‘Zombie arguments survive, immortal and
resistant to all refutation, because they do not
live or die by the normal standards of mortal
argument.’

27. In the science classroom?
Carefully structured discussions to develop skill in
policy-related argument, based on
• science, if possible including quantitative estimates
• social values
• a basic understanding of how collective (social,
political and economic) decisions are made in the UK
… simplifying the breadth and depth of science to
match pupils’ age and ability

28. Useful websites
Climateprediction.net follow links Support -> Schools
Realclimate.org climate scientists’ blog and archive
Google Earth v5 time series images show impact of climate change
UK Energy Flows comprehensive Sankey diagram published
every 3 years
The Guardian pages on Climate change - plus related
Environment pages … and weblinks

29. Support, references
www.talkphysics.org
SEP Energy now! cdrom, 3 booklets Energy storage,
Solar power, Wind power
Energy topic, Practical Physics website, including Guidance pages
David Sang (ed, 2011) Teaching secondary physics ASE / Hodder