What is energy?

Question

What is energy?

Answer 1

Energy is the ability to do work, and work is the transfer of energy by mechanical means. An object has energy if it can produce change in itself or in its surroundings. Work is the product of the force exerted on an object and the distance it moves in the direction of the force.

Answer 2

There are many forms of energy, kinetic, vibrational, translational, chemical, potential, and so on. Generally, it is best equated with a notion of potential to do work.  In its purest form, its heat.  But what is heat:  Its the kinetic and vibrational energy of atoms.  When you "heat" up atoms they move and vibrate faster.  But "energy" is also what you get when you plug in an appliance.  How much energy something has is related to its mass, but mass is not necessarily in and of itself energy.  Anything with mass will have energy associated with it, in terms of the chemical bonds between the atoms that comprise it.  But hows this:  Theory says if something is cooled to absolute zero, all molecular motion stops.  Does that mean there is no more energy?

Answer 3

im 55 years old...its something i don't have any of

Answer 4

Energy is a form of mass, a form that we perceive as causing forces to act on mass, be the forces mechanical, electrical, gravitational, chemical, nuclear, or others.

Thus mass as a gravitational force and mass destroyed in a nucleus have the effect of causing forces to be applied to other masses.

If an energy leaves teh universe, by definition it would not have been energy in the sense that it can not exert force on mass, other than the mass from which it emitted. (half the available energy.)

Answer 5

Energy here on earth ,is what the plants have stored from the sun.

Answer 6

Energy is simply the ability to do work.

Answer 7

potential or kinetic

Answer 8

energy is....well it's kind of like....well it can be described mathematically as a mass times distance squared over time squared, but that doesn't say what it actually is.

energy is made up of particals, which have mass and act as waves.  

it's something you can feel, that can affect its surroundings.

it's what makes up the universe we live in.

Answer 9

Energy is the ability to do work. . . . without energy life would be useless. Energy is what gets us up every morning, what makes the sun shine, and even the earth spin! Here's my point, without it, people wouldn't even exsist!! (dundunduuun)   ='(