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Topic 7
Transmission of Electricity
Alternating current for use in homes and industry is produced by large
electric generators in power stations. Transformers are used to change the voltage for
either transmission or use.
● Step-up transformers increase the voltage for transmission
● Step-down transformers decrease the voltage for use
Transformers
A 50 W light bulb is connected to a 12 V source, what is the current through the bulb?
Paying for Electricity
Producing electricity is expensive and so
consumers of electricity must pay the cost
of the energy that they use. All houses
have a power meter, more modern ones
are digital
Most appliances have a power marked on them telling you how many watts they use
while active. Larger appliances like stoves or refrigerators have labels that tell you how
much energy in kWh they use in a typical year of operation.
Sample Problem
A family uses 3000 kWh of electric energy in a two-month period. If the energy costs
11.0 cents per kilowatt hour, what is the electric bill for the period?
How much energy in kWh is used by a 750 W heater if it operates for 8 hours?
Efficiency
The law of conservation of energy tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed,
it is always transformed from one form to another. For example a lightbulb
transforming electric energy into light. However we know that light bulbs also produce
heat. The efficiency of a device is the percentage of electric energy that is transformed
into the intended form of energy and not lost as heat or some other form of energy.