Science Year 9 Energy and Electricity Homework

Fossil fuels are used to make plastics and to provide the energy to make and transport lots of other resources like paper. Most of our electricity in the UK also comes from fossil fuels and most schools are heated by fossil fuel. Recycling materials like paper, glass and plastic tends to use less energy than making them from raw materials.  Traveling to school uses energy.

Electrical devices that use most electricity are the ones designed to produce heat, like kettles and washing machines. Others, like computers and lights waste energy, as heat. The devices that use the least electricity like mp3s and interactive whiteboards don’t get very hot.  The longer a device is on for, the more electricity it uses.

What you have to do

Look around you while you are at school and make a list of things that are using energy, or have needed lots of energy to make them or to deliver them to school. Think about how you can present this information – can you put them in different groups or columns? Can you put them in a rough order of how much energy they need? How far have they traveled?

• Can you see examples of energy waste in school? Make a list.

• Can you explain why they are wasting energy?

• How could children and adults in school reduce the amount of energy wasted?

• What other ways could the school get the electricity and heat it needs?

How you do it  

Present your information in a poster or in a leaflet or booklet. You will get marks for thoughtful and careful presentation and you will get better marks if you do some research and use it to explain your ideas. Remember, research from books or the internet is not useful if you just copy it, or if it is not relevant or it is too complicated.

This task is expected to take at least 3 hours to complete to a good standard. If you have taken less than that you should make improvements to it.