Is Light Energy a Type of Potential or Kinetic Energy?

Energy

• Energy allows objects to perform work. In physics, work is usually applied by causing objects to move. Energy applied to an object can cause it to move. There are several types of energy, and not every type can cause objects to move directly. The two most basic types of energy are potential energy and kinetic energy. Most types of energy can be categorized as one or the other.

Potential Energy

• Energy that is stored naturally, mechanically, or chemically is called potential energy. Potential energy has the ability to perform work or create motion. Batteries use chemical potential energy, and a compressed spring represents mechanical potential energy. Even an object resting on top of a roof has potential energy provided by gravity that could cause it to fall.

Kinetic Energy

• Particles and objects in motion display kinetic energy. Anything that moves has kinetic energy. This ranges from a moving car to the vibrations caused by sounds. Even electrical energy is kinetic energy, since electricity is the flow or movement of electrons. Kinetic energy is evident when work is performed, but as with sound and electrical energy, all kinetic energy does not cause obvious movement.

Electromagnetic Radiation

• Electromagnetic radiation is not as simple as potential and kinetic energy. Electromagnetic radiation travels in waves that act differently then particles. Waves radiate in all directions and oscillate at different frequencies. They can bend their paths in different mediums (refract) or even around corners (diffract), and combine to create larger waves or even cancel each other out. Particles move in straight lines and can bounce off objects and each other. Strangely, electromagnetic radiation often exhibits characteristics of particles and waves.

Light Energy

• Light is the type of electromagnetic radiation that is visibly detectable. Light energy diffracts and refracts like waves, but it also travels in single particles called photons. Each photon travels at the speed of light and has kinetic energy. Tiny light photons could actually move an object if enough photons hit the object. This is usually unlikely, since photons are subatomic particles and each one has only a tiny amount of energy related to its very small mass. Ultimately, since light photons are particles with mass, their motion displays kinetic energy.