Phys1003

Energy and related environmental issues

Introduction to the Course

and Overview of Energy

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 Teaching team
Instructors

L1 L2

Prof. Iam Keong SOU

phiksou@ust.hk Prof. Xiangrong WANG
Room 4459, ext. 7476 phxwan@ust.hk
Room 4454, ext. 7488

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 Teaching team – Teaching Supporting Staff
TA:

IA

Mr. FUNG, Wing Hong Leo (L1) Miss CHEN, Xuee (L2)
whfungad@connect.ust.hk xchendi@connect.ust.hk
Appointment by email Appointment by email

Course Admin (L1 & L2)

Mr. LI, Cheung Shun Patrick
cslia@ust.hk
Appointment by email

Mr. YING Zhehan (L2) Mr. MAK, Ho Yiu Martin (L2)

zyingab@connect.ust.hk hymakah@connect.ust.hk
Appointment by email Appointment by email
 Lecture Schedule – L1 Session
Monday & Wednesday 12:00-13:20 LT-B

Date Lectures
19 Feb 01. Introduction to the course
24 Feb 02. Population growth and energy consumption
26 Feb 03. Fossil fuels
2 Mar 04. Temperature and heat
4 Mar 05. Thermodynamics of heat engines I
9 Mar 06. Thermodynamics of heat engines II
11 Mar 07. Otto engine and passenger cars
16 Mar 08. Diesel engine and cargo ships
18 Mar 09. Jet engine and air travel
23 Mar 10. Environmental Impacts and Midterm exam briefing
25 Mar 11. Electricity generation
30 Mar 12. Midterm exam practice and Q&A session
1 Apr No Class
Midterm Exam on Apr 2 (Thu) or Apr 3 (Fri)
6 Apr 13. Electricity power grid
8 Apr 14. Electric lighting
15 Apr 15. Energy storage and Home heating/cooling
20 Apr 16. Embodied energy in "stuff"
22 Apr 17. Nuclear energy I
27 Apr 18. Nuclear energy II
29 Apr 19. Water energy
4 May 20. Wind energy
6 May 21. Solar energy
11 May 22. Air pollution
13 May 23. Global warming and Climate change 4
18 May 24. Final exam briefing & practice and Q&A session
 Lecture Schedule – L2 Session
Tuesday & Thursday 13:30-14:50 LT-J

Date Lectures
20 Feb 01. Introduction to the course
25 Feb 02. Population growth and energy consumption
27 Feb 03. Fossil fuels
3 Mar 04. Temperature and heat
5 Mar 05. Thermodynamics of heat engines I
10 Mar 06. Thermodynamics of heat engines II
12 Mar 07. Otto engine and passenger cars
17 Mar 08. Diesel engine and cargo ships
19 Mar 09. Jet engine and air travel
24 Mar 10. Environmental Impacts and Midterm exam briefing
26 Mar 11. Electricity generation
31 Mar 12. Midterm exam practice and Q&A session
2 Apr No Class
Midterm Exam on Apr 2 (Thu) or Apr 3 (Fri)
7 Apr 13. Electricity power grid
9 Apr 14. Electric lighting
14 Apr 15. Energy storage and Home heating/cooling
16 Apr 16. Embodied energy in "stuff"
21 Apr 17. Nuclear energy I
23 Apr 18. Nuclear energy II
28 Apr 19. Water energy
5 May 20. Wind energy
7 May 21. Solar energy
12 May 22. Air pollution
14 May 23. Global warming and Climate change 5
19 May 24. Final exam briefing & practice and Q&A session
 Lecture 1

Course Web: https://canvas.ust.hk

Outline

 Introduction to the course

 Overview of Energy
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Lecture Rules:

• Cell phones must be switched off (or at least

set to the vibration mode), repeated violation
will be expelled from the class room.

• Laptop computers can be used but only for

displaying the lecture notes or other relevant
activities, absolutely not for playing computer
games.

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Academic Code of Honor
http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/integrity/honor.html

Good Learning Environment

http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/conduct/good_learning_experience.pps

Academic Dishonesty & Plagiarism

(抄襲/剽竊)
http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/integrity/student-1.html
http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/integrity/student-4.html

“Plagiarism is presenting work which is not your own

and originates from other sources as if it is your own.”

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 Grading Scheme

PRS ≈5%

Midterm ≈ 40 %

Final ≈ 55 %

Rules for PRS:

• Full marks for correct answers,
• half marks for incorrect answers,
• 0 marks for no answers.

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 Remarks
➢ You are not required to hand in homework assignments
as they serve as self learning materials. Solution will be
provided about one week after they are posted.
➢ You are responsible for your PRS handset or your mobile
phone to work properly. You should contact ITSC to fix
any technical problem.
➢ If your PRS handset or your mobile phone malfunctions
or you forget to bring it to the lecture, you could inform
the TA responsible right after the lecture, and half marks
will be given to you.
➢ PRS marks during add-drop period (i.e. L2 – L6) will not
be counted towards the final bonus points.

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Textbook:
• Sustainable energy without the hot air, David MacKay
(2008)
http://www.withouthotair.com/

References:
• Energy: A Beginner's Guide
Vaclav Smil, Oneworld Publishers, Oxford, 2006

• Bill Gates on Energy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaF-fq2Zn7I

• Visual animation of numerical data,

Hans Rosling, Gapminder World:
http://www.gapminder.org/

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Demos & Videos

In classes demonstrations and short videos will

help to illustrate the physics principles in common
phenomena and engines we come across in this
course.

Help Desk
Starting from the 2nd week of this term, two Zoom
meetings will be arranged each week for our TAs to
conduct Q&A sessions about the lecture notes.

Wednesdays: 3pm-4pm (Xuee)

Fridays: 6pm-7pm (Leo)
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• This is NOT a regular physics course, but a course
with a mixture of social and natural science.
✓ You should know basic physics concepts and basic math
such as kinetic energy, potential energy, Ohm’s law,
Newton’s law, exponential, factorial, logarithm, and simple
calculus etc.
• This is a course about using fundamental sciences to
understand the complexity, critical issues of our world
such as sustainability of our current life to the future.
• This is not a course on morality or try to make you a
“good” citizen, but just try to help you think rationally,
and understand consequences of our actions.
• All issues will be discussed in terms of facts with
Numbers for
✓ quantitative comparison and animation of statistical data
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 No Need to
Memorize
Numbers!

 You will find that the lecture notes contain a

lot of numbers and tables, but we don’t test
your memorizing ability on numbers”!

 Cheat sheets prepared by yourselves are

allowed to bring into the Exam venue!
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• Why do you choose this course to fulfil your degree
requirements as there are other science courses
available?

• Why should you concern about ENERGY issue?

• Imaging a day without electricity, how would your life

be affected?

• Why should you concern about energy related

ENVIRONMENTAL issue?

• Have you heard of “The United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (1992)”, or
“Kyoto Protocol (1997)”, or “Paris Agreement (2015)” ?

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Intended Learning Outcome Coal
Gas
Upon completion of this course, students Oil
should be able to
• Explain our good life comes from using large
number of fossil fuel consuming R
e
engines/machines. E
n
n
e
• Identify fossil fuels and other energy resources w
e
r
a
we are using and the issues arising from the use b
g
y
of these energy resources. l
e
• Explain the thermodynamic constraint of energy
conversion, especially in the case of engine
efficiency.
• List the engines used in land, sea, and air
transportations as well as in the generation of
electricity.
Air Pollution
• Recognize air pollution and greenhouse gases
arise from the burning of fossil fuels.
• Analyze energy use and pollution in Hong Kong
and the rest of the world. 16
 Course Content
Lecture 2
Population growth and Energy Consumption
• Exponential Growth and Multiplication (Doubling)

Dhaka, Bangladeshi

• The growth of energy consumption in the world due to the growth of

• population and the increasing life span of people

• affluence or wealth in the world
• technological inventions, i.e. machines

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 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 3
Fossil fuels
• Coal, Oil, Nature Gas
• Formation; Production; Consumption

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 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 4 & 5 & 6
Thermodynamics of Heat Engine
• Heat transfer, Temperature; • Heat engine;

• First Law of Thermodynamics;

• Carnot cycle;

• Second Law of Thermodynamics;

• Heat pump

Where S is the entropy

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of an isolated system
 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 7
Otto engine and passenger car

• Energy efficiency of car travel;

• Otto gasoline engine;
• Electric cars;

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Course Content --- continue
Lecture 8
Diesel engine and cargo ship
• Science of diesel engine;
• Cargo and ship;
• World-wide goods and oil transportation

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 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 9
Jet engine and air travel

• Science of air travel;

• Jet engine;

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Course Content --- continue
Lecture 10
Environmental impacts
Midterm exam brief

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 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 11
Electricity generation

• Electricity: Electromagnetic induction, AC electricity generation,

Steam turbine,

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Course Content --- continue
Midterm exam practices
Q&A session

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 Midterm Exam

Date and time: 2 or 3 April 2020

Locations: TBD
Covering: Lecture L01 – L10 (including HW)
Seating Plan: TBD
Please note:
• Due to the very large class size, the Midterm Exam time
cannot be changed.
• If there is a time conflict with other course’s midterm
exam, please contact relevant course instructor for
proper arrangements.
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 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 12
Electricity Transport & Electricity power grid
• Step-up and step-down transformers;
• Electricity power grid;

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Course Content --- continue
Lecture 13
Electric lighting

• Lighting: history, types, and basics.

• Fluorescent lamp;
• Light emitting diodes.

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 29
Course Content --- continue
Lecture 14
Energy storage and Home heating/cooling
Course Content --- continue
Lecture 15
Embodied energy in “Stuff”

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 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 16 & 17
Nuclear energy
• Physics of nuclear power
• Fission and fusion
• Roadmap for mainland China’s nuclear power
• Safety of nuclear power for civil electricity generation

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 32
Course Content --- continue

Lecture 18
Water power

• Physics of hydropower
• Classification of hydropower
• Advantage and disadvantage of water energy
 33
Course Content --- continue
Lecture 19
Wind power
• Physics of wind power
• Wind power in Hong Kong, mainland China, and the world
 Course Content --- continue 34

Lecture 20
Solar power
• Physics of solar energy and average insolation on the Earth
• Way of using solar energy and solar cells
 35
Course Content --- continue
Lecture 21
Air pollution

• Air pollutants and their health effects;

• Issues of particulate matter;
• Air pollution in HK and PRD.
 36
Course Content --- continue
Lecture 22
Global warming and Climate change

• Green house gases and green house effect

• Earth temperature history and Concentration of CO2
• Sources and sinks of CO2
• Global warming and Climate change
 Course Content --- continue
Lecture 23
Final Exam Briefing & practice and Q&A

The final exam will cover materials taught after

midterm exam in Lecture 11 to 22 inclusive.

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 Energy Overview
What is Energy?
• Energy is a quantity that characterizes the state
of a system. It embodies in everything we use
and involves in everything we do.
• In physics, energy means the ability to do work.
• It comes from many sources and in many forms.

The forms of energy are classified in two general

categories: potential and kinetic.
• Potential energy is an energy related to fundamental
forces. In an object, it can be in chemical, mechanical,
nuclear, gravitational, and electrical form.
• Kinetic energy is related to the motion of objects. Light,
heat, and sound are examples of kinetic energy.

• Total energy is always conserved, can neither be created nor

destroyed, just be transformed from one form to another.
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What are the Sources of Energy?

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Which Energy Source is the Best?
• Is it a renewable or nonrenewable source?
• Is it sustainable or not sustainable?
• What are the capital and setup costs?
• What are the ongoing operating costs?
• What size of energy storage is required?
• How efficient is it to produce one unit of
useful energy?
• Can it be produced on a large scale?
• What is the cost to the consumer?
• What impact will it have on the
environment?

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Form of Energy – Chemical energy

Energy released from chemical reaction,

from storage in chemicals and molecules.

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Form of Energy – Thermal energy
Random motion of molecules and radiation

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Form of Energy – Mechanical energy

Energy associated with mechanical

motion and potential.
Form of Energy – Elastic and sound energy

Elastic energy is a potential energy stored

as a result of deformation of an elastic
object, such as the stretching of a spring.

Sound energy is the energy produced by

sound vibrations as they travel through a
specific medium. Sound energy is a form of
mechanical energy.
Form of Energy – Electric and magnetic energy
Energy from charge interaction, from motion of electron, from interaction
between magnetic field and charge, etc.

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Form of Energy – Radiation energy
Energy of lighting, microwave, thermal, and X-ray radiation

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Form of Energy – Nuclear energy
Einstein himself explaining:
“It followed from the special
theory of relativity that mass and
energy are both but different
manifestations of the same
thing ……..very small amounts of
mass may be converted into a
very large amount of energy and
vice versa….”

Energy converted
from mass of
objects, which is
clearly observed
from nuclear
reactions.