Energy Stores

• Kinetic store

  • The energy stored by an object’s movement.
• Gravitational potential store

  • The energy stored in objects raised above the Earth’s surface.
  • This energy exists because of the Earth’s gravitational field
• Chemical store

  • The energy stored by the chemical bonds between atoms.
• Elastic potential store

  • The energy stored when an object is being stretched, compressed or squashed.
• Nuclear store

  • The energy stored in the nucleus of an atom.
  • The energy in the nuclear store can be released by radioactive decay.
• Internal store

  • The internal store of energy is the sum of the kinetic energy stored in the particles of an object and the potential energy stored in chemical bonds between particles in the object.
• Internal energy

  • The amount of energy in an object’s internal energy is the sum (total) of the kinetic energy and potential energy stored in the object's particles.
• Internal energy and temperature

  • The temperature of a body (object) is a measure of the energy in the kinetic stores of its particles.
  • Increasing a body’s temperature increases the energy in the kinetic stores of the body’s particles, which means that the energy in the body’s internal store also increases.
• Heating an object increases the energy in the kinetic stores of the object's particles.

  
• Gravitational potential store - example

  • Cliff divers have a lot of energy in their gravitational potential store before they dive and in the early stages of their dive.