Overview

The concept of energy is fundamental to the understanding of all physical motion, whether in nature or derived from humanity's technologies. Nature's examples of energy are familiar enough to anyone: pounding ocean surf, volcanic eruptions, wind and electrical storms, and even the beating down of the Sun's rays. These and many other displays have intrigued and influenced humanity in its development and applications of the concept of energy in nature and in the laboratory. The theory of energy and its conservation was long in coming but has led to numerous practical technological applications.

Background

The word energy comes from Greek, meaning work, and the concept was explored progressively by medieval thinkers (momentum), Galileo (1564-1642; force acting on a body), Isaac Newton (1642-1727; gravitational force and the laws of basic mechanics), and other seventeenth- and then...