Look at the following collage of pictures. If you have to classify these pictures using one word, what word would you choose?

All of the images in the collage represent energy.

Energy is the ability of a system to do work. That system may be batteries powering an electronic game system or windmills capturing wind energy to power a city. When an object or an organism does work, energy is transferred to another form. Work can be defined as the transfer of energy and is measured in a unit called joules (J).

There are two main types of energy, potential energy and kinetic energy.

Click on the graphic below to learn more about potential and kinetic energy.