When water is released from a dam, what happens?
O A. Chemical energy is transformed to potential energy.
O B. Potential energy is transformed to chemical energy.
O C. Potential energy is transformed to kinetic energy.
O D. Kinetic energy is transformed to chemical energy.
Once a river is dammed it changes its physical and chemical structure. Damming also changes the biological communities associated with the river and its floodplain. When water is kept behind dams, seasonal flow patterns are usually lost.
A hydroelectric dam converts the potential energy stored in a water reservoir behind a dam to mechanical energy—mechanical energy is also known as kinetic energy. As the water flows down through the dam its kinetic energy is used to turn a turbine.
