Energy forms: which option best represents potential energy (stored energy that can be released to do work under the right conditions)?

Introduction / Context:
Understanding the distinction between potential and kinetic energy clarifies how systems store and deliver power. Potential energy refers to stored energy due to position, configuration, or chemical/electrochemical state; kinetic energy refers to energy of motion.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Everyday examples of energy in common devices and phenomena.
• We classify each example qualitatively as primarily potential or kinetic.
• No numeric calculation is required.

Concept / Approach:
A charged battery stores chemical potential energy that can be converted to electrical work when connected to a circuit. Steam escaping a kettle and a moving vehicle exemplify kinetic or thermal energy flows, not stored potential in the same sense. “The sun” produces energy by nuclear fusion and radiant emission, not a discrete device storing releasable potential energy for later use by us.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Battery: chemical potential energy → electrical energy on discharge.Tea-kettle steam: hot, expanding vapor indicates thermal/kinetic energy being released.Moving vehicle: macroscopic kinetic energy = 1/2 * m * v^2.The sun: source of radiant/nuclear energy, not a typical stored-energy device in this context.

Verification / Alternative check:
Electrochemistry confirms that batteries store energy in the Gibbs free energy of redox reactions, convertible to electrical work at a load.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Steam: energy already in motion/flow as heat and mass transfer.
Moving vehicle: quintessential kinetic energy.
The sun: continuous energy generation and radiation, not a practical store for later release by a user device.

Common Pitfalls:
Equating “hot” with “potential energy”; while temperature reflects internal energy, the question aims at stored energy readily usable on demand.

Final Answer:
a battery