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chemical energy

chemical energy

2 4.0
Power stored inside substances that is released when they react together
  • noun
  • /ˈkɛmɪkəl ˈɛnərdʒi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : energía química
  • For example, hot vents on Earth's deep ocean floors are sites where hyperthermophilic archaea feed off the supply of chemical energy and are entirely independent of energy from the sun.
  • convert chemical energy
  • release of chemical energy
  • chemical energy in a fuel

So that's a million times increase from chemical energy.

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Examples

  • Derived from a patented vanadium-based redox regenerative fuel cell, VRB's flow batteries convert chemical energy into electrical energy.

    Academic text (2005)
  • An auto mechanic who visits the class is influential in helping them better understand how their car battery's chemical energy can be transformed in order for a motor to turn, bulbs to light, and wires to heat.

    Academic text (2008)
  • We may choose not to burn something, and thus the potential chemical energy is not released.

    Blog text (16)
  • The leaves absorb light, which is converted into chemical energy.

    Blog text (24)
  • So you take in oxygen and fuel and it gets converted into chemical energy called ATP by the cell.

  • So that's why wood burns, because it has stored chemical energy given to it by the sun.

  • However, biological motors are much more efficient in converting chemical energy into motion than car motors.

    Blog text (7)
  • Cars convert chemical energy from gasoline into mechanical energy that fires pistons and drives a car forward.

    Blog text (7)
  • Molecular motors convert a chemical energy known as ATP into physical motion along microscopic tracks.

    Blog text (7)
  • Plants convert sunlight into chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis.

How Powerful

fusion
  • Specialized
73 5.9
atomic energy
  • Specialized
5 3.8
chemical energy
  • Specialized
2 4.0
alternative energy
  • Specialized
28 3.7

Surface Forms

Morphology

chemical + energy

The meaning 'energy stored in the bonds of chemical compounds' is directly and compositionally derived from 'chemical' (relating to chemicals or chemistry) modifying 'energy' (usable power). This modifier+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish energía química), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The term chemical energy gives a picture of tiny parts in a substance holding power like a wound-up spring. When the bonds between those parts break the power is 'released', so the term means the energy 'stored' inside a substance that can come out in a chemical 'reaction'.