VIDEO 02: POWER UP

VIDEO 02: POWER UP!

ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS

This unit will use the sport of race car driving to help students gain a deeper understanding of energy transformations that take place in the sport and in the world around us. The introductory video discusses some of these energy transformations and hopefully gets the students excited about learning more.

In this unit, students will learn more about kinetic energy, potential energy, thermal energy, chemical energy and how they can be transferred in a system. After a brief introduction, students will use a computer simulation to learn more about energy and energy transfer. They will develop a tool for representing energy in a graphical way and apply it to a variety of situations. Students will also learn about power and how it relates to energy and auto racing.

Lastly, the students will complete the challenge given in the video. They will build a car which will transfer energy to produce a car with the highest power possible.

NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

• MS-PS3-2: Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
• MS-PS3-5: Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
• MS-PS3-1: Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.

SME : Steve Erikson 

As an engineer on Indy racecars, Steve Erikson discusses how the racecar engine works, how energy is transferred inside the engine and where energy is lost.

SME: KYLE BENTLEY

Kyle Bentley, the engineering manager of vehicle development for Kia North America discusses the many elements that go into vehicle development and how they relate to power and energy.