SANKEY DIAGRAMS

Sankey diagrams summarise all the energy transfers taking place in a process.
The thicker the line or arrow, the greater the amount of energy involved.
The following Sankey diagram for an electric lamp shows that most of the
electrical energy is transferred as heat rather than light.

Modern energy-saving lamps and LEDs (light-emitting diodes) work in a

different way: they transfer a greater proportion of electrical energy as
light energy.
This is the Sankey diagram for a typical energy-saving lamp.

1.
The useful energy transfer that happens in an electric lamp is:

electricity light

electricity sound

electricity heat

2.
'Wasted energy' becomes less useful because:

it is destroyed after use

it becomes increasingly spread out

it makes the surroundings become cooler

3.
Which equation can be used to calculate the efficiency of an energy
transfer?

efficiency = useful energy out total energy in

efficiency = useful energy out total energy in

efficiency = useful energy out total energy in

4.
In a certain device, 25% of the energy is usefully transferred. The
energy efficiency of this device is:

25%

75%

125%

5.
A coal-fired power station is 40% efficient. This means that:

40% of the chemical energy stored in coal is transferred to electrical energy

60% of the chemical energy stored in coal is transferred to electrical energy

40% of the chemical energy stored in coal is transferred to the

surroundings as heat