What is Kinetic energy?

Kinetic energy is the power something has because it’s moving.

Imagine you're on a playground swing. When you’re just sitting there, you don’t have much power, that’s like having no kinetic energy. But when you start swinging back and forth, you feel strong and fast, that’s kinetic energy in action! It's the energy of motion.

Think about pushing a toy car. When you give it a little nudge, it starts rolling. The harder you push, the faster it goes, and the more kinetic energy it has. Like when you ride your bike: if you pedal fast, you zoom ahead with lots of energy. If you stop pedaling, you slow down, that’s kinetic energy changing.

Kinetic energy depends on two things:

• How heavy something is (like a big rock vs. a small pebble)
• How fast it's moving (like a slow turtle vs. a quick rabbit)

So, a heavy object moving fast has a lot of kinetic energy, just like when you run full speed and crash into a pillow!