Energy often changes from one form to another. For example, the drummer transfers motion to sound energy. When the moving drumstick strikes the drum head, the drum starts to vibrate. The motion of the vibrating drum head creates the sound you hear. Any form of energy can change into any other form. Frequently, one form of energy changes into two or more different forms. Have you ever sat in front of a campfire? What are two things you notice? The fire creates light. It is also warm by the fire, meaning it creates heat. The energy of the fire comes from the stored energy in the wood. The wood contains chemical energy. As it burns, the chemical energy is changed into light and heat. Not all chemical energy changes produce light and heat. Our cars use gasoline as a fuel. Gasoline contains chemical energy. When our cars burn gasoline in their engines, it is converted into motion and heat. When energy changes forms, energy is conserved.

What form of stored energy fuels a fire?

It's just this hard when I try to answer the question: Why do older Oklahomans need lawyers? The answers are important enough that they will be a discussion topic of this year's Senior Day at 9 a.m. March 25 in the House Chamber at the Capitol. The following is a preview of some of the answers for review: We can all agree that older Oklahomans need medical care. But even the best care is worthless if an older patient can't drive to the doctor for ongoing treatment because his or her car has been wrongfully seized in a debt dispute. Therefore, lawyers are part of the prescription for regular medical care for many of the 600,000 Oklahomans age 60 and older. Another example: if a doctor treats an elderly patient for a lung ailment, the doctor's treatment will be undone and he will see the patient again and again, if the patient is sent home to an unheated apartment. Lawyers know how to make landlords heat apartments so the medical treatment can stick. (By the way, a May 16, 2001, article in The New York Times reports on a program at Boston Medical Center providing a walk-in legal clinic in the hospital to help fight their patients' legal and administrative battles.) We also can agree that older Oklahomans - like all citizens - have rights to control their health care until they become incapacitated or these rights are transferred to another by legal document or process. "Old" is not a legal classification that results in automatic loss of these rights. Moreover, having an old parent does not automatically confer on children the right to make the parents' health care choices. It follows that an important role lawyers provide for aging Oklahomans is not only to create rights - transferring documents such as durable powers of attorney and guardianship orders, but also to monitor their use. In family situations, for example, lawyers must ensure that powers of attorney and guardianships are used to serve only the person transferring or losing rights. They are not to be used to help a family "manage" their mother or help a doctor or nursing home get permission for a pill or procedure they feel is in the best interest of a patient. Good news: Oklahoma now has a Public Guardianship Program, albeit unfunded, that will supply lawyers to perform this rights-monitoring process Oklahoma grandparents should be able to enjoy their grandchildren, not raise them. But owing to the social problems of divorce and drug use, grandparents are increasingly being called on to raise their grandchildren because of missing parents. Adding to the physical, emotional and financial burden they take on, grandparents face legal problems. All the decisions parents made without a second thought now require evidence of legal authority when made by grandparents.

Where will this year's Senior Day be held?

Mechanical energy is a combination of the energy of motion or position. This type of energy describes objects that are moving or could move. A moving ball can have energy from motion. An arrow can also have the energy of motion. Both are types of mechanical energy. Can you think of some other examples? Where does the energy of motion come from? It comes from the energy created by position. This energy is stored energy. This means it is not moving yet, but it has the potential to move. How can you store energy? The arrow gains energy from the drawn bow. As the arrow is released, the bow releases its stored energy and puts the arrow into motion. Can you think of some other ways to store energy using position?
What kind of objects can be described by mechanical energy?