Elastic and Chemical Potential Energy

Elastic and Chemical Potential Energy Worksheet (Grade 6 Science, TEKS 6.8A)

Teach the two other kinds of potential energy in grade 6. This one-page reading and activity sheet shows elastic potential energy in a rubber band, spring, bow, and trampoline, and chemical potential energy stored in food, batteries, gasoline, and wood and released in chemical reactions.

What's Inside

• A Big Question box: "How can energy be stored in stretched objects and in substances?"
• A two-part reading with a row of doodles for each kind of energy
• Activity 1: Students write E, C, or G for eight examples, comparing all three kinds of potential energy
• Activity 2: Students draw lines to match a trampoline, battery, food, and bow to how the energy is released
• A visual answer key with answers marked in red

How Teachers Use It

Use it after the gravitational potential energy lesson, before a rubber band car lab, or as practice for TEKS 6.8A. The sheet takes about 10 minutes, needs no prior knowledge, and prints clearly in black and white.

This worksheet is part of the Reading in Science series for grade 6. It supports TEKS 6.8A: compare and contrast gravitational, elastic, and chemical potential energies with kinetic energy. It is one of four connected TEKS 6.8A sheets: what energy is, gravitational potential energy, elastic and chemical potential energy, and comparing potential and kinetic energy. The unit big idea is that energy can be stored, transferred, and transformed, but it is not created or destroyed.

Why It Works

Each sheet opens with a Big Question, teaches the key terms in plain words with simple black-and-white doodles, and then asks students to use only what the page taught. The focus is on comparing kinds of energy, not formulas, and the visual answer key lets teachers check work fast.