☰ Year plan · Science

Air after burning

Week 2 · Chapter 1: 1-3 Air After Burning; Let’s Expand (tools that check gases); Column: Combustion and Future Energy · 3 lessons
3

From fire to sunshine: Egypt’s energy story

Science P6: Term 1, Chapter 1, pp. 12–17
GoalLink burning fuels to extra carbon dioxide and say why renewable energy from sun and wind helps.
New words
global warming · the slow rise in Earth’s average temperaturerenewable energy · energy from sources that do not run out, such as sun, wind and watersolar park · a large area of solar panels that make electricity from sunlight
Explanation

People have used fire for a very long time. Ancient Egyptians made lamps and used a bellows, a bag that blows air onto a fire, to make it burn better. Today we burn a lot of fuels in cars, factories and power stations. That puts large amounts of extra carbon dioxide into the air. Carbon dioxide traps heat near the Earth, and the extra gas helps to warm the planet slowly. This is called global warming. One way to help is to use renewable energy: sunlight, wind and moving water do not need burning. Egypt has strong sunshine and a big solar park near Aswan makes electricity from sunlight. At home we can help by switching off lights and fans we do not need.

renewable energyburning fuels
Worked examples
light off
Habiba turns off the light when she leaves the room. Less electricity is needed, so fewer fuels need to be burned at a power station.
sunlighthome
A family puts solar panels on the roof of a house to heat water with sunlight. Sunlight does not need burning, and it will not run out.
Ancient Egyptians used lamps and a bellows to make fires burn better. People could see that a flame does better with moving air long before anyone knew about oxygen.
Class activity

Energy sort. Write six energy sources on cards (sun, wind, falling water, petrol, wood, gas for cooking). Sort them into “renewable” and “burning fuels”. Then draw one thing your family can do to use less electricity.

Practice
1
Why does burning fuels in cars add carbon dioxide to the air?
2
Give two renewable energy sources.
3
What does a solar park use to make electricity?
4
Name one thing you can do at home to use less energy.