Chapter 7

7 SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF GRAMPA AL'S BACKYARD JUNK PILE, Frank Einstein consults his Energy notebook. "Here are the basics we need to know," says Frank. He continues: "Energy is all around us. "Energy is what makes everything happen. "Energy is a property of matter. "Energy comes in many forms... like light,

heat, sound, electrical, chemical, mechanical, and nuclear. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed. But it can be transferred from one object to another. And it can be converted into different forms. "And forces!" Frank adds. "Forces are the ways that energy is applied. The pushes and the pulls that get things moving." "I have added jets to my legs to get things moving," says Klank. "Watch!" Klank pushes a new green button on his side panel. Small rocket motors on the bottoms of his metal feet fire up with a low, roaring blowtorch sound. Klank rises slowly up off the ground. Watson checks the engines. "Saturn V F-1 booster rockets! Nice!"

"Wow," says Frank. Even Klink is impressed. "Very nice." Klank rises higher. He turns his feet right

and flies left. He turns his feet left and flies right. "A perfect demonstration of all three of Newton's Laws of Motion!" says Frank. "Huh?" says Klank. Klank rises higher. "One: An object at rest will stay at rest unless a force acts on it." The tiny rockets roar a bit louder. Klank zigs and zags around the backyard a bit more wildly. "Two: When a force acts on an object, that object will move, speed up, slow down, change direction. The greater the force, the greater the change of movement. What are you using to control the thrust?" asks Frank. "What is that?" yells Klank. "Thrust!" repeats Frank, now shouting above the building roar of the rockets. "The amount of energy the engines are pushing out!"

"OHHHhhhh," says Klank, bouncing off the brick wall of the back of Grampa Al's Fix It! shop. "I have not figured that ooooouuuuuuttttt..." Klank's foot rockets erupt at full power. Klank flies around the yard, bouncing off walls, fences, telephone poles, and wires. His legs flop. His legs twist. His legs wrap around each other. And he roars straight up into the sky. "Three: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," says Frank. "Heeeeeeelllllllp!" "Point your feet up!" yells Frank. Klank points his feet up. He stops rising, turns in a big, jet-propelled curve, and rockets back down to earth, into Grampa Al's backyard, with a SMASH BOOM BLAAAANG, crushing three old metal file cabinets, a shopping cart, and a baby grand piano.

Klank's foot rockets sputter out and go quiet. Klink rolls over to Klank and helps untwist his legs. "Nice demonstration of Newton's Three Laws," says Watson. Phooomph! goes one last blast of a rocket in Klank's left foot.