1 Without its atmosphere, Earth would be a very different planet. 2  Gases in the atmosphere allow plants to photosynthesize and animals and plants to engage in respiration. 3  Water vapor, which is an atmospheric gas, is an essential part of the water cycle. 4  All weather takes place in the atmosphere.
Energy transformation can also be explained in terms of potential energy, the stored energy of a system, which can be converted into kinetic energy, the energy of movement. For example, a roller coaster sitting at the top of a hill is said to have potential energy.
Transformation of kinetic energy of charged particles to electric energy. In order to make the energy transformation more efficient, it is desirable to avoid the thermal conversion. For example, the efficiency of nuclear energy reactors, where kinetic energy of nuclei is first converted to thermal energy and then to electric energy, lies around 35%. By direct conversion of kinetic energy to electric, i.e. by eliminating the thermal energy transformation, the efficiency of energy transformation process can be dramatically improved.