All of the energy from the Sun that reaches the Earth arrives as solar radiation, part of a large collection of energy called the electromagnetic radiation spectrum. Solar radiation includes visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared, radio waves, X-rays, and gamma rays. Radiation is one way to transfer heat.

The energy associated with motion is called kinetic energy . The energy associated with position is called potential energy . Potential energy is not “stored energy”. Energy can be stored in motion just as well as it can be stored in position.

Potential energy is the latent energy in an object at rest, and is one of two forms of energy. The other form, kinetic energy, is the energy expressed by an object in motion. The actual potential energy of an object depends on its position relative to other objects.

Rest energy is E0 = mc2, meaning that mass is a form of energy. If energy is stored in an object, its mass increases. Mass can be destroyed to release energy.

One of the most famous equations in mathematics comes from special relativity. The equation — E = mc2 — means “energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.” It shows that energy (E) and mass (m) are interchangeable; they are different forms of the same thing.

Rest mass cannot turn into energy.

The kinetic energy of a particle is one-half the product of the particle’s mass m and the square of its speed v: K=12mv2. K = 1 2 m v 2 .

They are both related to an object’s velocity (or speed) and mass, but momentum is a vector quantity that describes the amount of mass in motion. Kinetic energy is a measure of an object’s energy from motion, and is a scalar. Sometimes people think momentum is the same as force.

Momentum is a quantity that is constant for any closed system (like energy). Momentum cannot be converted to different forms (unlike energy) although momentum can be exchanged between different masses when they interact by means of forces or collisions. For any closed system the total momentum is always constant.