Law of Conservation of Energy

Where does Energy come from?

If energy can be neither created nor destroyed… where did it come from in the first place? And where does it go?

Well, energy can be found in many things and it takes many forms.

So even if it appears to be lost in thin air, technically it has just changed its form! Hence, the total energy in the universe remains the same because nothing is really lost. You get the gist of it now don’t you?

It was during the 1840’s that a physicist named James Prescott Jules outlined the theory of conservation of energy.

This theory essentially stated that: energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form into another or transferred from one object to another.

So, when you kick a ball, the potential energy in the ball is converted into kinetic energy which causes it to move ahead. Also the energy that is stored in you is transferred into the ball which causes it to move forward.

Now you ask, in the case of atomic energy, where is this conservation of energy employed? Where is this excess energy coming from?

The Law of Conservation of Mass

In the case of the atomic energy, we see that a very small amount of mass has been converted to huge amount of energy!

Hence, it means that the conservation of energy applies to matter too! It’s name just changes to conservation of mass. This law can be practically seen in chemical reactions, nuclear reactions and radioactive decay in case of the atomic reactions.

The law of mass conservation was deduced by : Mikhail Lomonosov.

What is Energy Efficiency?

Yes, we said that energy could not be lost. But, a flooding need of energy with increase in the population and excessive utilization of the available resources has led to the need of resource management and energy efficiency.
Practicing very simple steps like turning off the lights and fans when no longer in use, getting the leaking taps fixed and such, we can use the present energy resources efficiently!

Practicing the efficient usage of the present energy resources, we can not only save it up for the future generations, but also save our planet from destruction that is caused by green house gases and global warming due to excess gaseous emissions. Be a hero for Earth! Be an energy efficient citizen!