Which of the following is listed as a form of energy?

• A. Kinetic energy
• B. Velocity
• C. Mass
• D. Temperature

Answer: (A)

Energy comes in different forms, and the one that is itself a form of energy is the energy of motion. This is the kinetic energy, which an object possesses because it is moving. It depends on both how heavy the object is and how fast it’s moving, and is calculated as one-half times mass times velocity squared. That makes it a distinct type of energy.

The other terms are not energy themselves. Velocity tells how fast something is moving (a rate), mass is how much matter there is, and temperature is a measure of how hot something is—linked to the average microscopic motion of particles, but not energy itself.