Unit 1: What Is Energy?
UNIT 1: WHAT IS ENERGY? TEACHER OVERVIEW The three essential resources for any nation are food, water and energy. As a matter of fact, it is energy that helps produce more food and cleaner water for our ever growing global population. Securing and producing enough energy often becomes critical to economic and social stability throughout the world, so we need to know and understand as much as we can about our energy resources. Understanding where energy comes from and how we use it is more important now that at any time in our past as we want to provide a better and longer life for our global community. The energy concept is fundamentally scientific in nature, but it has tremendous personal and social significance. Energy is one of the most fundamental parts of our universe. We cannot see, hear or touch energy, yet we use energy every day. Although energy isn’t visible, we can detect evidence of energy. Movement, sound, heat, and light provide evidence that energy is present and being used. Energy from the sun lights the earth during the day and is used by plants to produce food. Energy lights up our homes and towns; provides the power for our modes of transportation (planes, trains, vehicles, rockets, etc.); warms and cools our homes; cooks our meals; plays our music; powers our phones, computers, tablets and televisions; powers the machinery used by factories, farmers, and construction workers; and too many others to mention. The Sun provides the energy for producers in a food chain to produce food for nearly all other organisms for their survival.
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