Seneca
Sign up

Energy Stores

Physics: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 4.1.1

Stores of Energy

A system is an object or group of objects. Energy can be stored in a system in lots of different ways. Some stores of energy are:

Kinetic store

Kinetic store

  • The energy stored by an object’s movement.
  • Thermal, light, sound and chemical energy are types of kinetic store.
Chemical store

Chemical store

  • The energy stored by the chemical bonds between atoms.
Potential stores

Potential stores

  • The elastic potential store is the energy stored when an object is being stretched, compressed or squashed.
  • The gravitational potential store is the energy stored in objects raised above the Earth’s surface.
  • This energy exists because of the Earth’s gravitational field.
Nuclear store

Nuclear store

  • The energy stored in the nucleus of an atom.
  • The energy in the nuclear store can be released by radioactive decay.

Test yourself on Energy Stores

Practise this topic for free