Matter and energy All matter is made up of atoms, and atoms themselves are still made up of more fundamental

building blocks, namely, the electrons, protons, and neutrons. The protons and neutrons make up what we call the nucleus of the atom located at a very small point at the atomic center. The electrons are outside the nucleus and move around it. To build an atom, you have to build the nucleus first because it is in the inner central part. Once the nucleus is built up from protons and neutrons, all you need to do is to add the electrons and you have a complete atom. The law of nature called the law of conservation of energy. According to that law, energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Energy cannot just come from nothing and energy cannot just disappear. It can only be transformed from one form of energy to another form of energy After the formation of the atom, the energy present earlier just simply vanished. To understand why energy is needed in the formation of an atom from its building blocks Matter interacts with one another. They sort of push or pull against each other. There are four such fundamental interactions (also known as four fundamental forces): 1) Gravitational force which holds the universe together (long range and always attractive), 2) Electromagnetic force which holds atoms together (short range but can be attractive or repulsive), 3) Strong force holding the nucleus together being the strongest among the four, and 4) Weak force which makes some substances radioactive Among the four, what concerns us now are the electromagnetic (EM) and strong force. EM interaction is present whenever we have what we call charges existing in two kinds, the positive charge and the negative charge. "Unlike" charges (one positive the other negative) attract, but "like" charges (both positive or both negative) repel. The protons are the smallest positive charge. Since neutrons in the nucleus of an atom have no charge, no EM force can hold the nucleus together because the protons there are like charges which repel one another. To form the nucleus of an atom from initially isolated protons, we have to push them together and pushing together requires energy. The closer the protons come together, the repulsive force between them becomes stronger and the more we have to push them together, requiring a larger amount of energy. But this pushing away of the protons persists only so long as they are still far enough away from each other. When they are already very close to one another, near enough for the much stronger attractive force of the strong interaction to take into effect, the repulsive EM force of the protons is overcome, "gluing" them together and allowing the eventual formation of the nucleus. When the strong nuclear force is in effect, the energy previously needed to push the protons together is no longer needed. But it just does not vanish because of the law of conservation of energy. It is still there but now in the form of the mass of the atom created. Result Energy, specifically heat energy, is used to do work.