KnowledgeMadeFun, home

Lesson · Grade 3 · Science

Thermal energy: where heat comes from

  • Grade 3
  • Science
  • 1 min 2 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC3-SC-09

A close-up of tiny, always-jiggling particles and a thermometer shows that the hotter something gets, the faster its particles move, and that the energy of moving particles is called thermal energy. Three cards then add the Sun, friction from rubbing hands and the chemical reaction in a hand warmer as common sources of thermal energy, each sending energy into the particles so they move faster and the thermometer rises.

Anyone can watch two lessons on the website without an account. Signing in is free, no payment and no card, and opens three a day; Plus has no limit.

Loading

Share to Google Classroom

In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

Where does heat come from?

Everything around us is made of tiny particles, far too small to see.

Transcript

What the lesson says

Where does heat come from?

Everything around us is made of tiny particles, far too small to see.

These particles are always moving, jiggling back and forth.

When something gets hotter, its particles move faster.

Moving particles have a kind of energy called thermal energy.

Here are three common sources of thermal energy.

The Sun shines on things and warms them up.

Sunlight makes the particles in things move faster.

Try rubbing your hands together fast.

When things rub together, friction makes heat.

Some hand warmers have a chemical reaction inside them.

The reaction gives off heat.

Heat can come from the Sun, from friction and from chemical reactions.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 3

Science, Physics: sources of thermal energyBC3-SC-09

Next: Three Ways Heat Moves: Conduction, Convection and Radiation

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

Keep going

More on this topic