Year 9 Science · Unit 3 · Lesson 5
Challenge Worksheet
Learning Goals
Find the mistake
A student wrote this answer
"Nuclear energy and chemical energy are basically the same thing, because both involve atoms. In both cases, atoms react with each other to release energy. The only real difference is that nuclear reactions happen at very high temperatures, like inside the Sun or a nuclear power plant, whereas chemical reactions can happen at lower temperatures, like burning petrol in a car engine. So nuclear energy is just a hotter version of chemical energy."
1. Identify the main scientific mistake(s) in the student's answer. There is more than one error, find as many as you can.
2. Rewrite the student's explanation correctly, making clear what is different about chemical energy and nuclear energy in terms of where the energy comes from inside an atom.
3. Explain why this kind of mistake, confusing chemical and nuclear energy, is easy to make, and describe one piece of evidence that shows they are fundamentally different.
1. A Tesla Powerwall battery stores 13.5 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy. Trace the complete chain of energy transformations that put that energy into the battery, starting from sunlight hitting solar panels on an Australian home roof.
2. "Energy is lost when a car engine burns petrol." Evaluate this statement. Is it scientifically accurate? Use the law of conservation of energy to support your answer, and name the forms energy transforms into.
Wrap Up
In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?