energy

Measure of the ability of a body or system to do work or produce a change, expressed usually in joules or kilowatt hours (kWh). No activity is possible without energy and its total amount in the universe is fixed. In other words, it cannot be created or destroyed but can only be changed from one type to another. The two basic types of energy are (1) Potential: energy associated with the nature, position, or state (such as chemical energy, electrical energy, nuclear energy). (2) Kinetic: energy associated with motion (such as a moving car or a spinning wheel).

Both in physics and in life, having potential means nothing until it turns to kinetic energy.