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8th grade · Science · Unit 3 of 7

Kinetic & Potential Energy

Energy of motion and stored energy.

What your child practices

Practices how kinetic energy depends on mass and speed, how potential energy changes with position, and how energy transfers change an object's motion.

Alaska content standards learning standard: MS-PS3-1; MS-PS3-2 · kinetic energy, mass and speed, and potential energy and position

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Kinetic energy is energy of motion; it grows with mass and speed.
  2. Potential energy is stored by position; higher up means more.
  3. Energy changes form: a falling ball turns potential into kinetic energy.

Example: Where does a roller coaster have the most kinetic energy? Kinetic energy is greatest where it is fastest. It is fastest at the bottom of a hill. Answer: at the bottom of the hill

Kinetic & Potential Energy in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 3 of 7 in 8th grade Science, after Motion, Forces & Newton’s Laws and before Fields & Forces at a Distance.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A roller coaster at the bottom of a hill has the most…

    • chemical energy
    • nuclear energy
    • potential energy
    • kinetic energy

  2. Question 2

    Kinetic energy is energy of…

    • position
    • heat only
    • light only
    • motion

  3. Question 3

    A stretched rubber band has…

    • elastic potential energy
    • kinetic energy only
    • sound energy
    • nuclear energy

  4. Question 4

    A ball thrown upward slows down because kinetic energy changes into…

    • potential energy
    • light
    • mass
    • nothing

  5. Question 5

    Pushing a cart transfers energy to it, so the cart…

    • slows down
    • speeds up
    • gets lighter
    • stops

  6. Question 6

    Which energy transfer happens when a soccer ball is kicked?

    • Ball's heat to the leg
    • Leg's kinetic energy to the ball
    • Nothing transfers
    • Light to sound

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