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4th grade · Science · Unit 5 of 17

Energy, Speed & Collisions

Faster things have more energy.

What your child practices

Practices how an object's speed relates to its energy, what happens to energy when objects collide, and devices that change energy from one form to another.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.8(A) · energy transferred by objects in motion and in collisions

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Faster objects have more energy.
  2. Stored energy can change into motion, light, heat or sound.
  3. In a collision, energy moves between objects, and they change speed or direction.
  4. Rubbing things together turns motion into heat.

Example: A rolling ball hits a ball that is sitting still. What happens to the still ball? The moving ball passes some of its energy on. Answer: it starts moving

Energy, Speed & Collisions in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 5 of 17 in 4th grade Science, after Gravity & Magnets and before Waves & Codes.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    When two cars bump, you hear a sound. The sound shows…

    • nothing happened
    • some energy turned into sound
    • energy disappeared
    • energy grew

  2. Question 2

    A wind turbine changes wind energy into…

    • ice
    • electrical energy
    • light only
    • food

  3. Question 3

    Which has the most energy of motion?

    • A truck going fast
    • A ball resting
    • A truck parked
    • A bike parked

  4. Question 4

    In a collision, objects often…

    • grow bigger
    • turn to water
    • vanish
    • change speed or direction

  5. Question 5

    Which ball has more energy of motion?

    • A ball in a box
    • A fast ball
    • A ball that is still
    • A slow ball

  6. Question 6

    A car's brakes get hot when stopping. Motion energy became…

    • light
    • nothing
    • new fuel
    • heat

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