Energy Stores and Transfers

Energy Stores and Transfers

Energy can't be created or destroyed — it only moves between different stores (like kinetic, thermal, or gravitational potential) or transfers from one object to another.

Common energy stores

Kinetic (movement), thermal (heat), gravitational potential (height), chemical (fuel/food), and elastic potential (stretched springs) are the main stores you'll meet at GCSE.

Conservation of energy

The total energy before an event equals the total energy after — a ball dropped from a height converts gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy as it falls, then into heat and sound on impact.

Practice

A skier at the top of a hill has which type of energy store? What does it convert into as they ski down?