Energy cascade
Imagine a playground with a big slide, a smaller slide, and a bunch of kids playing on them. The kids are like energy in a system, and the slides are different levels of that energy.
When a kid climbs up the big slide, they have a lot of potential energy because they are high up, but they aren't moving yet. When they start to slide down, that potential energy turns into kinetic energy - they are moving faster and faster as they slide down.
Now imagine that the smaller slide is next to the big slide. Once the kid reaches the bottom of the big slide, they can transfer their energy to the smaller slide by climbing up it. So now, they are transferring some of their kinetic energy from the big slide to the smaller slide, which is like a transfer of energy from one level to another.
This is kind of like how energy works in a system. As energy flows through a system, it can transfer from one level to another, just like the kid transferring their energy from the big slide to the small slide. This transfer of energy from one level to another is called an energy cascade.
In real life, we see energy cascades all the time - in ecosystems, for example. The sun provides energy that plants use to grow, and then that energy is passed on to herbivores when they eat the plants. Then, those herbivores become food for predators, who get their energy from the herbivores. So there's a cascade of energy - from the sun, to plants, to herbivores, to predators - that keeps the ecosystem running.
When a kid climbs up the big slide, they have a lot of potential energy because they are high up, but they aren't moving yet. When they start to slide down, that potential energy turns into kinetic energy - they are moving faster and faster as they slide down.
Now imagine that the smaller slide is next to the big slide. Once the kid reaches the bottom of the big slide, they can transfer their energy to the smaller slide by climbing up it. So now, they are transferring some of their kinetic energy from the big slide to the smaller slide, which is like a transfer of energy from one level to another.
This is kind of like how energy works in a system. As energy flows through a system, it can transfer from one level to another, just like the kid transferring their energy from the big slide to the small slide. This transfer of energy from one level to another is called an energy cascade.
In real life, we see energy cascades all the time - in ecosystems, for example. The sun provides energy that plants use to grow, and then that energy is passed on to herbivores when they eat the plants. Then, those herbivores become food for predators, who get their energy from the herbivores. So there's a cascade of energy - from the sun, to plants, to herbivores, to predators - that keeps the ecosystem running.