A teacher rubbed a match against a piece of sandpaper. The match started to burn. Describe the energy transformation of the teacher rubbing the match on the sandpaper.

Chemical energy into Thermal energy and Light energy

Explanation:

In this problem, we have a match rubbed against a piece of sandpaper.

According to the law of conservation of energy, "energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but only transformed".

This means that in this situation, the energy produced when the match lits up must come from somewhere.

The initial form of energy in this case is Chemical energy. This form of energy is stored in the bonds between the molecules inside the match.

Then, when the match is rubbed against the sandpaper, these molecular bonds are broken, and the chemical energy is released. It transforms into two types of energy:

1) Thermal energy: this is the energy associated to the heat released by the match when it lits

2) Light energy: this is the energy associated with the light emitted by the match when it is turned on