Energy Causes
Change

Chapter

1

You walk into a dark room. You flip a switch.
What changes? The room changes from
dark to light.
You are holding a balloon in a quiet place.
You stick a pin into the balloon. What
changes? The silence in the room changes

Big Question
Where can we
observe evidence
of energy causing
change?

when you hear a loud sound—POP!
A toy car is sitting on top of a table. You
give the car a push. What changes? The toy
car changes from sitting still to moving.
Whenever there is a change, there is some
form of energy causing the change. Energy

Vocabulary
change, v. to
become different
energy, n. the
ability to cause
change

is the ability to cause change.
Energy exists in many different forms. It
causes different types of changes.

Popping a water balloon
causes a noise and a
splash!
1

Change Is Evidence of Energy
When you see changes in the world around you, you are seeing
evidence, or proof, of energy. Look at the picture. What changes
do you think are happening?
As the wave crashes onto the shore, the water moves. That is one
change. Imagine you are there on the seashore. You hear the
sound of the water splashing against sand and rocks. The sound
changes because of the movement of the water and the wind.
Another change is the movement of the sand as it is pushed by
the water. And there’s a change happening that you can’t see—
the temperature of the sand is changing as it is warmed by the
bright sunlight or cooled by the water.
All these changes are caused by some form of energy.

All of the changes that happen on this seashore are the result of energy.
2

Energy Occurs in Different Forms
Energy exists in many forms. For example, think of a carousel—a
merry-go-round that you might see at a carnival or amusement
park.
Motion: The carousel
spins around. The horses
move riders up and
down. All these moving
objects have energy
of motion.
Sound: As the carousel
spins around, it plays
loud, cheerful music. The
riders laugh and shout to

You can observe evidence of many forms of
energy in a spinning carousel.

friends. The carousel and the riders are producing sound, another
form of energy.
Light: The bright bulbs on the carousel light up the ride. The bulbs
give off the form of energy called light.
Heat: If you’re riding a carousel, don’t touch the bright light bulbs.
Why? Because they are hot! The bright bulbs not only produce
light, but also give off heat, another form of energy.
Electrical Energy: The carousel, its musical speakers, and its
shining lights are all powered by another form of energy. If
you look closely around the ride, you will find electrical cords
connecting the carousel to a source of electrical energy.

3

Objects Can Store Energy
When you see the waves crashing on a beach or watch a spinning
carousel, you can see changes happening. The changes are
evidence of energy. But energy can also be present even when
you don’t see such evidence.
When a rubber band is not stretched, it isn’t causing any change.
There is no evidence of energy. But when the rubber band is
stretched, it now has the ability to cause changes if it is released,
or let go.
The stretched rubber band has stored energy. When the rubber
band is released, it moves and makes a sound. Those changes are
evidence that energy was stored in the stretched rubber band.
Inside a battery are chemicals that store

Vocabulary

energy. When you put a battery in a
flashlight or a toy, the stored chemical
energy will be released and cause a change.
The energy can make the flashlight light up

stored energy, n.
energy that has the
ability to cause
change at a later time

or the toy move.

What happens when one side
of a stretched rubber band is
released? SNAP!
4

The Stored Energy of Position
Batteries and stretchy materials can store energy because of
the materials of which they are made. Any object also can have
stored energy because of its position.
Imagine that you pick up an apple
and hold it up above your head.
Like a stretched rubber band, the
apple has the ability to change
position. If you release the apple,
it will fall.
When an apple hangs from
a tree branch or when you
hold the apple above the
ground, it has stored energy
because of its position. The
same is true if you hold up a
ball or a book or a bucket—each
object has stored energy because
it has the ability to cause a change
once it starts moving.

This apple has stored energy because
of its position.
5

Energy Can Move and Change
Look at the napping cat in the picture. Not very energetic, is he?
But there is energy in this scene that you might not notice at first.
The cat sleeps in a patch of sunlight. Light from the sun travels
through space and transfers energy all the way to Earth. The
sunlight pours through the screen door into the room where the
cat is sleeping.
The light enters the room, and when it hits an object, the energy
of light is changed to the energy of heat. So, the cat isn’t moving,
but energy that has moved across millions of miles is now in the
room and warming the cat.
In later lessons, you will learn more about how energy can move
from one place to another and change from one form to another.

Light and heat are forms of energy that allow this cat to take a cozy nap.
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