The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
energy
In physics, the ability to do work. Objects can have energy by virtue of their motion (kinetic energy), by virtue of their position (potential energy), or by virtue of their mass (seeE = mc2).
‡ The most important property of energy is that it is conserved—that is, the total energy of an isolated system does not change with time. This is known as the law of conservation of energy. Energy can, however, change form; for example, it can be turned into mass and back again into energy.
