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WILMINGTON -- Turning on the lights, blowing up a balloon, even eating are every day activities that require different types of energy. Saturday, the Cape Fear Museum sent visitors on an "energy quest" to see how it all works.

Hannah Russell, 13, learned about chemical and motion energy and how it can start out as one and change into another. While there's many different forms of energy, there's only two categories that they fall under, potential and kinetic energy. Potential is stored energy and kinetic is motion.

"You're seeing how two chemicals can react and basically it's just a demonstration of turning potential energy into kinetic energy," said Russell.

All the interactive demonstrations are setting off light bulbs in many young minds.

"You can see how the electricity works and how you can use wires and batteries to light up a light bulb," said Luke Guo, 13.

By sending visitors on an "energy quest," museum officials say they're trying to make a connection between school-aged children and science, technology, engineering, and math also as known as STEM.

Parents say this way of learning really helps develop those skills.

"When you're in the classroom, you understand what's on the paper, it's usually problems, it's words, it's reading, but when you have hands on you actually understand where that's coming from," said Melody Suggs.

Maybe one day, a career will be carved out of this learning experience.