What is energy?

[Microburst]

What is energy? at it's very core?
is matter madeup of energy?

[Blissfulpain]

energy is a concept created by humans to describe things we see. kinda like math... math doesn't really exist.. it's just a concept, but it can be used to explain things and predict things. does that make sense to ya?

[kastarov]

Helllo, Microburst!
This is one of questions more curious of Physics, by the way, this question is in my journal, visit it, you can give your opinion! Actually, nobody doesn't know what's energy; what we do it is to analyze the results caused by energy.
I advice that you look for the book: Feymann's lectures on the Physics v.1, the Prof. Richard Feymann makes interesting analogy between energy and blocks of toy.

[Clausius2]

I have another similar question:

What do the clouds smell of?


...................
Both have similar answers. :smile:

[Chi Meson]

A simplified definition of energy (which may be helpful in getting a conceptual toe-hold, but is not at all complete, because a complete answer to this question could go on for decades):

Energy is the ability to cause a change in one's self or surroundings.
And
Energy can only be detected as it changes from one form into another
And
The total amount of energy (in all forms) in a closed system always remains constant.

THis is, I repeat, a good place to start, but does not completely answer the question. Kastarov's reference to Feynman's lecture is a good one; I second that recommendation!

[Amir]

E = mc^2 :biggrin: it seems matter is made up of lots of potential energy, but you need lots of energy to get it out. :rolleyes: (unless you are an unstable radioactive kind of mass with loose electrons.)

http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/emc1.htm

[berty]

Would it be true to say that energy is the emission, or potential emission, of radiation caused by the interaction between particles?
If so then this would be true of matter/matter, antimatter/antimatter or matter/antimatter interactions.

[MiGUi]

I have another similar question:

What do the clouds smell of?


...................
Both have similar answers. :smile:

:yuck: (Maybe they don't understand your sarcastic because that pathetical TVspot is only ours)

[pmb_phy]

What is energy? at it's very core?
Nobody knows.

is matter madeup of energy?No.

Pete

[Omar]

Well, a very basic definition of energy goes: ENERGY is the ability to do work. Very primitive to fellows like you who don't suffice with such simplicity. Physicists now believe everything around us is energy (correct me if I'm wrong, please) and matter is just huge density of energy, nothing else.

[MiGUi]

Energy is mankind's method to explain how the universe works

(oh, someday someone will include this phrase in a quote book as MINE lol)