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6th grade · Science · Unit 8 of 17

Stored Energy

Energy that waits, then moves.

What your child practices

Practices the idea that objects can hold stored energy (chemical, elastic, height) and that it can be transferred to cause events such as motion, heat and light.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 6.8(A); 6.8(B) · stored energy and how energy is transferred and transformed

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Stored energy waits until it is used: in food, fuel, batteries, a stretched band or a ball on a hill.
  2. When it is used, it changes to other forms, like motion, light or heat.
  3. Your body changes chemical energy from food into motion and heat.

Example: A ball at the top of a hill starts rolling. Stored energy changes into what? The ball is now moving. Energy of moving things is motion energy. Answer: motion energy

Stored Energy in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 8 of 17 in 6th grade Science, after Kinetic & Potential Energy and before Ecosystems.

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

    A hockey stick hits a puck. Energy transfers from the stick to the…

    • puck
    • ice only
    • the arena roof

  2. Question 2

    When a stretched slingshot is released, stored energy becomes…

    • motion energy
    • no energy
    • stored energy only

  3. Question 3

    Which shows stored energy turning into motion?

    • A bow releasing an arrow
    • A sleeping dog
    • A book on a shelf staying still

  4. Question 4

    A flashlight battery runs out. What happened to its stored energy?

    • It went back in time
    • It was transferred to light and heat
    • It disappeared

  5. Question 5

    A lamp changes electrical energy into light and…

    • gravity
    • heat
    • a battery

  6. Question 6

    A roller coaster car is at the top of the first hill. Which statement is true?

    • It has the most motion energy there
    • It has the most stored energy there
    • It has no energy

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