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Energy

Energy is described as the amount of work that can be done by a force. It is broken into two categories, potential and kinetic. Potential energy is exactly what it sounds like; the potential for a situation to create work. Kinetic energy is that potential realized. A ball held above your head has potential energy, when you drop it the ball falls to the ground in a release of kinetic energy.

Every process involved in life requires energy. Your breathing brings in oxygen for your cells to burn in a combustion reaction. You eat to provide sugars to burn in that reaction. Plants take in sunlight and water via photosynthesis to create energy for growth. The wind is a release of thermal energy in the air. The lights in your house require electric energy to function. Your car requires chemical energy to drive.

 Because energy is so fundamental to everything we do, it is one of the most basic building blocks of any economy. The availability of energy is a fundamental limit in the law of supply. It may not always be the limiting factor, but it is always there to be accounted for. When we watch the price of gas rise, or see our gas and electric bills rise, this is a direct result of the cost of obtaining the energy we use every day without thinking.

 

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