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8th grade · Science · Unit 8 of 10

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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 8P.2.1.1.2; 8P.4.1.1.2 · kinetic energy, mass and speed, and energy moving when motion changes

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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 8 of 10 in 8th grade Science, after Motion, Forces & Newton’s Laws and before Chemical Reactions.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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 stretched rubber band has…

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

  2. Question 2

    Lifting a book higher increases its…

    • temperature
    • potential energy
    • kinetic energy
    • mass

  3. Question 3

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

    • mass
    • light
    • potential energy
    • nothing

  4. Question 4

    Kinetic energy is energy of…

    • light only
    • motion
    • position
    • heat only

  5. Question 5

    Energy can't be created or destroyed, only…

    • transferred or transformed
    • multiplied
    • invented
    • deleted

  6. Question 6

    A roller coaster's second hill is lower than the first because…

    • energy is created
    • gravity gets stronger
    • some energy changes to heat and sound by friction
    • the cars get heavier

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