Energy

Commonenergyformsincludethe
kineticenergy
ofamovingobject,the
radiantenergy
carriedby
light,the
potentialenergy
storedbyanobject'spositioninaforce
field
(
gravitational
,
electric
or
magnetic
),
elasticenergy
storedbystretchingsolidobjects,
chemicalenergy
releasedwhenafuel
burns,andthe
thermalenergy
duetoanobject's
temperature
.Allofthemany
formsofenergy
are
convertibletootherkindsofenergy,andobeythelawof
conservationofenergy
whichsaysthat
energycanbeneithercreatednorbedestroyedhowever,itcanchangefromoneformtoanother.
For"closedsystems"withnoexternalsourceorsinkofenergy,the
firstlawofthermodynamics
statesthatasystem'senergyisconstantunlessenergyistransferredinoroutby
mechanicalwork
or
heat
,andthat
noenergyislostintransfer
.Thismeansthatitisimpossibletocreateordestroy
energy.The
secondlawofthermodynamics
statesthatallsystemsdoingworkalwayslosesome
energyas
wasteheat
.Thiscreatesalimittotheamountofenergythatcandoworkbyaheating
process,alimitcalledthe
availableenergy
.Mechanicalandotherformsofenergycanbe
[3]
transformedintheotherdirectioninto
thermalenergy
withoutsuchlimitations.
Thetotalenergyof

asystemcanbecalculatedbyaddingupallformsofenergyinthesystem.

Heatandworkarespecialcasesinthattheyarenotpropertiesofsystems,butareinstead
propertiesof
processes
thattransferenergy.Ingeneralwecannotmeasurehowmuchheatorwork
arepresentinanobject,butratheronlyhowmuchenergyistransferredamongobjectsincertain
waysduringtheoccurrenceofagivenprocess.Heatandworkaremeasuredaspositiveornegative
dependingonwhichsideofthetransferweviewthemfrom.
Potentialenergiesareoftenmeasuredaspositiveornegativedependingonwhethertheyare
greaterorlessthantheenergyofaspecifiedbasestateorconfigurationsuchastwointeracting
bodiesbeinginfinitelyfarapart.Waveenergies(suchasradiantorsoundenergy),kineticenergy,
andrestenergyareeachgreaterthanorequaltozerobecausetheyaremeasuredincomparisonto
abasestateofzeroenergy:"nowave","nomotion",and"noinertia",respectively.

Inthecontextof
chemistry
,energyisanattributeofasubstanceasaconsequenceofitsatomic,
molecularoraggregatestructure.Sinceachemicaltransformationisaccompaniedbyachangein
oneormoreofthesekindsofstructure,itisinvariablyaccompaniedbyanincreaseordecreaseof

energyofthesubstancesinvolved.Someenergyistransferredbetweenthesurroundingsandthe
reactantsofthereactionintheformofheatorlightthustheproductsofareactionmayhavemore
orlessenergythanthereactants.Areactionissaidtobe
exergonic
ifthefinalstateisloweronthe
energyscalethantheinitialstateinthecaseof
endergonic
reactionsthesituationisthereverse.
Chemicalreactions
areinvariablynotpossibleunlessthereactantssurmountanenergybarrier
knownasthe
activationenergy
.The
speed
ofachemicalreaction(atgiventemperature
T
)isrelated

E
/
kT
totheactivationenergy
E
,bytheBoltzmann'spopulationfactore
thatistheprobabilityof

moleculetohaveenergygreaterthanorequalto
E
atthegiventemperature
T
.Thisexponential
dependenceofareactionrateontemperatureisknownasthe
Arrheniusequation
.Theactivation
energynecessaryforachemicalreactioncanbeintheformofthermalenergy.