scientifically minded people answer my question

[Tortington]

so, there was a thread like this before where people asked " how come the sky isn't really blue" and stuff

well my dd and i were talking about global warming yesterday in the car ( like you do!) and onto electric cars.

so, i wondered why the motion of a car itself doesn't or i mean can't create electicity to be stored in a battery enabling it to go quite fast and - are you still with me - therefore perpetuating its own power with every journey it makes.

then i got to thinking abotu curent hybrid cars and i dont get this..

so taking my perpetual force creating electricity theory above - i would think that with a hybrid car you would have to use gas to start the motion ( therefore creating the electicity) then run on electriciy - but it doesn't work that way i dont think - i certainly dont understand how electricity is used at slower speeds - when my way seems to make more sense.

so my questions are
why the motion of a car itself doesn't or can't create electicity to be stored in a battery enabling it to go quite fast and therfore perpetuating its own source of free power to be used?

and

taking the above question in account - how come hybrid cars use leccy at slower speeds not faster?

( am off all week, and i have been thinking!)

forgive me north i had to copy your answer becuase i am a bit lost

whenever you transfer energy from one form to another you waste some (usually as heat)
you need energy to speed up your car................yes but you'll be creating it too with te motion of the car......... which you might get from gas, petrol, battery, whatever
you can get some energy back.... eh???....when you slow it down but you'll always have lost some along the way
so you'll end up with less energy than you start with

right right - so the heat is nt only a by product of this energy but it is like a leech and it drains the energy too?
your electric fire converts electric energy into heat energy
my little fiat punto converts chemical energy (in petrol) first into kinetic energy (me moving), then into heat (in the brakes when it slows down)

it's all about changing energy from one form into another ...

(going back to lurking now)

Custardo. Sometime heat is the useful enegy! Like in a heater. In that case the light it gives of is the 'wasted' energy (as far as we humans are concerned). In a light bulb the light is the useful energy and the heat is 'wasted'

Waste is a human construct. Enrgy is just being changed from one form into another.

You can never make energy , you can just convert it from one form into another.

So, light energy from the sun falls on plants. Plants convert the light energy to chemical energy (some energy 'wasted' as heat)

Plants die and over millions of years are converted to coal.

Coal burned and energy converted to electrical energy (soem 'wasted' as heat again)

Elelctrical energy get to your house and is converted to light energy (heat wasted) or heat energy (light wasted)

Beautiful isn't it? And it gets to be strangly additcive

Do you understand now?

She's got IT!!!!!!

You are A natural scientist m'dear!

hydrogen is an element, just like carbon or oxygen.

You get the energy 'back' when you break, because the system can drive a little generator that converts the movement energy back into elecrical energy, but in doing so some of it will be lost, as heat again.

Think of it as pouring water from one container into another. You can keep changing the container (the energy type) but evey time you change the container you lose some of the water.

so there isn't an origial source of energy?

you can get some energy back.... eh???....

it's possible to charge up a battery by capturing some of the energy whenever you apply the brakes, but you'll never get back as much energy as you had to use to speed the car up in the first place

you can have a battery-powered car, but you wouldn't be able to capture enough energy from the brakes to fully charge the battery at the other end

battery energy -> moving energy -> battery energy
you'd lose some energy each time you converted the energy from one form to another

so you'd need to plug your car in at the other end (electrical energy -> battery energy)

this would result in a big electricity bill. scientists have yet to find a way to capture the "angry energy" generated when you open a very big bill.

hope that helps :)

no original source of energy. we get almost all our energy from the sun, eventually

sun energy -> chemical energy inside plants -> chemical energy inside petrol -> kinetic energy in a moving car

yes and no north - keep with me...

i understand that braking is another form of energy ( actually i dont think i do understand how that is)

no i dont understand it.

however i have got that energy is from form to form

so....when i boil my kettle - the steam is the wasted energy? ( off to boil kettle)

yes and no north - keep with me...

i understand that braking is another form of energy ( actually i dont think i do understand how that is)

no i dont understand it.

however i have got that energy is from form to form

so....when i boil my kettle - the steam is the wasted energy? ( off to boil kettle)

Haven't read all the thread as I am thick as the proverbial pig's poo when it comes to physics.

However, a few years ago on Top Gear or similar car programme they had a hybrid car that would send charge BACK to the battery when it went downhill. I thought that this was a good idea.

The original source of energy, the big Bang.

our 'effective' source of energy, our sun.

Only Nuclear energy, Geothermal energy and total energy don't have some input from the sun.

Steam isn't a type of energy, but the movement energy that the water particles have, in the steam (kinetic energy -> heat energy) is 'wasted as far are you are concerned!

You will waste heat energy as you walk over to the kettle!

braking isn't a form of energy, it's a way of converting one sort of energy (moving energy) into another (heat). so you slow down because you don't have as much moving energy afterwards.

when you boil a kettle, you're converting electrical energy into heat energy. the water has more energy afterwards (we see this as heat).

steam is just hot water that's escaped. it's only waste in that it'll never make a nice cup of tea (instead it'll just float around in the air, transfer its heat energy to the air and make your kitchen a bit warmer).

mmm, tea. make me a cuppa please!

so steam isn't considered a form of energy?

so with a steam train the source of energy is the coal but the steam itself isn't energy?

does that mean that electricity isn't energy as such but the original form or that electricity is the energy - so errr with my supercar - the energy is the movement which creates the electricity- rather than the electricity

Isn't splitting the atom, making energy?

i was thinking that MB - as i walked over to the kettle!

Steam is water particles in the form of a gas.

When you burn coal the chemical energy is converted to heat energy. If you use the heat to warm water you eventualy give the water particle enough energy to break away from each other and stop being a liquid and start to become a gas. Particles in a gas move around....lots. The particles in the steme have movement [kinetic] energy. This can then be make to make the pistons move, which makes the wheels turn (more kinetic energy). In all thse places energy will be lost as friction (particle rubbing together) generates heat energy.

When you split an atom you only realse some of the energy that is already stored in it (potential energy again). The law of conservation of energy....energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form inot another.

Want another mindblowing fact. Matter can never be created or destrolyed either...only endlessly converted from one compound into another) You and I are made up of atoms that were once part of stars!!!!!!!

Custy....I warned you it was addictive! Once you get the hang of it you see energy exchange everywhere!

I piss my kids off not end

steam isn't energy, it's just hot water
heat is energy

a steam train converts coal (chemical energy) into heat (in steam / hot water), the steam drives the wheels (converting the heat energy into moving energy). what you see coming out the top is smoke from the coal ...

electricity ... um ... depends what you mean
electricity in a battery is chemical energy (kinda like petrol)
electricity going round a wire is a bit more complicated, but you can think of it like a river (of electrons rather than water), when you use it to power a light bulb or whatever you're taking a bit of energy from the river (like a water wheel in a mill).

i think you're understanding it. :)

do your kids "get it"

are they artsy inany way - and does this secretly piss you off :) i wont tell!

dd is a natural born scintist. At 9 she 'gets' much of the stuff I teach to 12 year olds. She is also very arty farty.....my house is full of drawings, she is also very musical. Ds is better with maths and numbers than either dd or me. I still count on my fingers

What is 'total' energy?

In what context?

In terms of matter the total energy in it is its mass times the speed of light.

E= mc2.

I have just had pie and chips for lunch - stocking up on potential energy. Since very little kinetic energy is planned for the rest of the day, I will get fat. Except for a small amount which will be burnt off as heat energy as my metabolism ticks over.