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Course 240 · Life course 62

Trace Energy and Heat Transfer

An energy-accounting notebook explaining work, stored energy, efficiency and three heat-transfer mechanisms in supplied desk scenarios. Six introductory lessons use supplied practice cases.

Before you start

Use paper or a free text document; every core input is supplied in the lessons.

Explain Motion and Forces See everything you’ll need

Free download · Original practice data · No external account required. Download the starter pack

What you’ll leave with

An energy-accounting notebook explaining work, stored energy, efficiency and three heat-transfer mechanisms in supplied desk scenarios.

Start course Start without an account. Sign in to save lesson progress across devices.

Your project

Start with the practice files. Build your project one lesson at a time.

Practice files are free without an account. Sign in to save your project record in My Proof: a description, checklist, and optional work link. Keep the original files in your own app or notebook; saving a project record does not upload them.

  1. Get your materialsDownload practice filesSupplied practice cases, a blank working record, complete lesson instructions, and annotated worked examples.
  2. Make your projectView the project checklist Work in your own notebook, document, or software. Use the supplied practice examples when you prefer.
  3. Keep a private recordSave a project record Sign in to save a description and checklist, then return to update them.
Course handbook

Know the route before you begin.

Here’s what you’ll need and what you’ll make. You can return to this guide during any lesson.

Who this is for

Learners aged 14+ building subject foundations and practical independence. Adults can use the same supplied cases.

Prepare before lesson one
  • Use paper or a free text document; every core input is supplied in the lessons.
  • A basic calculator is optional; show the method, units and checks.
  • Suggested earlier course: Explain Motion and Forces
Your final project

Finish with proof you can use.

An energy-accounting notebook explaining work, stored energy, efficiency and three heat-transfer mechanisms in supplied desk scenarios.

Save a project record in My Proof
See project checklist and review criteria

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • Account for useful and dispersed stores within a boundary.
  • Calculate work with constant parallel force conditions.
  • Calculate gravitational energy change using supplied g and height differences.
  • Compare efficiencies with the same useful-output definition.
  • Classify three heat-transfer routes.
  • Compare supplied thermal designs with limits and complete all changed cases.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • Method: applies the course-specific rules to the supplied cases with visible intermediate work.
  • Accuracy: results agree with the stated facts, units, boundaries and independent checks.
  • Reasoning: explains why the result follows and identifies a limitation or unresolved question.
  • Transfer: completes changed cases and revises the final project when a relevant assumption changes.
Three ideas to help you along the way
Three useful ideas

The rules behind the steps.

01

Read the specific conditions

Energy is accounted for in a defined system and its surroundings. Motion, gravitational position and internal thermal energy are useful stores in this course; work and heating describe transfers. A process can reduce a useful store while increasing a thermal store. That is dispersion, not destruction of energy.

02

Connect the mechanism

Near Earth’s surface in a uniform-gravity model, gravitational energy change is ΔE=m×g×Δh. The height is a change relative to a chosen reference, not always the absolute altitude. This course suppliesg=10 N/kg as a rounded model value; it is not an exact value everywhere. Use desk scenarios, not lifting tasks.

03

Explain evidence and limits

A design comparison needs matching starting conditions, measurement times and the same useful goal. Reduced heat loss can improve the desired result without showing exactly which mechanism changed. Use the supplied evidence and acknowledge unmeasured conditions. A paper comparison is not a test of a real product’s safety or performance.

What do these words mean?
Key words

Key terms worth knowing.

Energy store
An accounted quantity associated with motion, position or internal state.
Work
Energy transfer by a force through displacement.
Efficiency
Specified useful output energy divided by input energy.
Conduction
Thermal transfer through material interactions and contact.
Convection
Thermal transfer carried by moving fluid.
Radiation
Energy transfer by electromagnetic waves.
Your route

6 lessons.
One useful project.

Work in order the first time. Each lesson makes something the next lesson can use.

  1. 1
    Up next

    Track stores and transfers

    Account for supplied energy stores within a stated boundary and distinguish dispersion from loss.

  2. 2
    10 min

    Calculate work for a parallel force

    Calculate supplied work only when constant force and parallel displacement conditions hold.

  3. 3
    10 min

    Calculate gravitational energy change

    Compute gravitational energy change with a defined height reference and supplied gravity approximation.

  4. 4
    10 min

    Account for useful output and efficiency

    Calculate task-defined efficiency and account for all supplied output energy.

  5. 5
    11 min

    Distinguish three heat-transfer mechanisms

    Classify supplied thermal transfers by contact, fluid movement or electromagnetic radiation.

  6. 6
    15 min

    Compare a thermal design from supplied data

    Compare matched thermal-retention records and separate performance from mechanism claims.

Use the tools

Tools to help you practice.

See all tools
ZIP · practice files

Trace Energy and Heat Transfer practice files

Supplied practice cases, a blank working record, complete lesson instructions, and annotated worked examples.

Text worksheet

Your course project worksheet

A downloadable text worksheet with each lesson’s working output, space for your answers, and the shared final-project checklist. Save your own copy.

Source transparency

Sources and further study.

Explore the references behind the lessons and take your learning further. Source notes explain access and reuse.

OpenStax: work and energy transfer
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Web open/search showed the official page, its topic heading and relevant concept description. This is a content/source check, not a provider endorsement.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01; interactive tools and videos were not certified by retrieval.

Reuse: Original fictional teaching cases, calculations, questions and examples; link and short factual paraphrase only. No copied source exercises or illustrations.

OpenStax: energy stores and conservation
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Web open/search showed the official page, its topic heading and relevant concept description. This is a content/source check, not a provider endorsement.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01; interactive tools and videos were not certified by retrieval.

Reuse: Original fictional teaching cases, calculations, questions and examples; link and short factual paraphrase only. No copied source exercises or illustrations.

OpenStax: heat and heat-transfer mechanisms
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Web open/search showed the official page, its topic heading and relevant concept description. This is a content/source check, not a provider endorsement.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01; interactive tools and videos were not certified by retrieval.

Reuse: Original fictional teaching cases, calculations, questions and examples; link and short factual paraphrase only. No copied source exercises or illustrations.

Ready when you are

Start with the first useful move.

You’ll always know what to do, what to make, and where to go next.

Start lesson one