Energy forms or energy carriers?

Abstract

It is customary to say that energy exists in different forms which are transformed or converted into one another during physical processes. However, a careful analysis shows that thinking in and speaking of energy forms is inappropriate and conceptually even misleading. Since most textbooks use the term ‘‘energy form’’ without spelling out a clear procedure by which different ‘‘forms’’ of energy can be categorized, rigorous criteria for categorizing flowing and stored energy are discussed in this paper. These criteria show that the term ‘‘energy form’’ for the respective categories is unsatisfactory because it easily leads to the misinterpretation that there are different kinds of energy, rather than emphasizing the simpler and physically more correct picture of energy as an unalterable substance. Taking into account the well-known but little recognized natural law that energy always flows simultaneously with at least one other physical quantity, the concept of energy carrier is introduced. This concept provides a clear picture of how energy is transported, exchanged, and stored. This picture is scientifically accurate, yet simple and easy to present even at an elementary level.

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

“…1 This imagined substance is not a material fluid; rather it is a ''quasimaterial'' substance, one that includes certain properties of material substances (e.g., localization and conservation) but not others (e.g., mass, volume, viscosity). As we will discuss in more depth below, the substance metaphor for energy is a powerful conceptualization that supports features valued in physics, specifically conservation, presence in objects, transfer, and flow [17,19,[23][24][25].…”

“…We have selected a substance metaphor for energy as a primary focus of our instruction because of its advantages for teaching conservation, transfer, and flow [23][24][25][31][32][33]. A substance metaphor supports the following features:…”

Varying Use of Conceptual Metaphors across Levels of Expertise in Thermodynamics

“…Einstein describes how energy quanta 'penetrate' a body's surface layer, a process in which some or all of its energy is 'transferred to' and 'converted into' kinetic energy of the electrons. In our interpretation, the energy quanta or light quanta are construed as a kind of 'energy carrier' (Falk, Herrmann, & Schmid, 1983), that collides with and delivers a certain amount of energy to the surface, while energy is treated as an object that moves from one location to another; a case of the use of an Object Event-Structure metaphor in relation to energy. In addition, in 'energy is converted /…/ into kinetic energy', different energy forms, such as kinetic energy are construed as locations, into which the energy transforms, a use of the CM Forms Of Energy Are Locations/Containers (Amin, 2009).…”

On the Significance of Conceptual Metaphors in Teaching and Learning Science: Commentary on Lancor; Niebert and Gropengiesser; and Fuchs

“…In addition, we comment on an idea briefly discussed by Fuchs that presenting different domains of physics (such as heat and electricity) in "analogous forms" will ease understanding; the Karlsruhe Physics Course (Falk, Herrmann, & Schmid, 1983) is such an example. However, only a few studies on teaching and learning the various topics of this course are available (Starauschek, 2001;Kesidou & Duit, 1991).…”