James Bastob Mondol

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Chapter 14: Energy Transfers

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Teacher's Name: James Bastob Mondol . Subject: Physics Date: _________

Energy Stores & Transfers

 Energy can be stored in different ways, and there are changes in the way it is stored when a
system changes.
 Energy stores: kinetic, gravitational, elastic, electrostatic, magnetic, chemical, nuclear,
thermal.
 Energy is the capacity of something to do work:
o If something contains a store of energy it is able to do work.
o If something does not store energy then it will not work.

 There are many different ways that energy can be stored, these are shown in the table below:

 A system can change between stores through different energy transfer mechanisms.
 Examples of these are: Mechanical, Electrical, Heating and Radiation.
 These are described in the table below:

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Problem: Describe the energy transfers in the following scenarios:

(a) A falling object
(b) A battery powering a torch
(c) A mass on a spring

Part (a): For a falling object:

Energy is transferred from the gravitational store to the kinetic store of the object via
a mechanical transfer pathway.

Part (b): For a battery powering a torch:

Energy is transferred from the chemical store of the battery to the thermal store of the surroundings
via a radiation transfer pathway

Part (c): For a mass on a spring:

Energy is transferred from the elastic store to the kinetic store of the system via a mechanical transfer
pathway

The Conservation of Energy

 The principle of conservation of energy states that:
Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one store to another.

 This means the total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant but can change where,
and how, it is stored.
 Energy can therefore not necessarily be 'lost', but just transferred into wasted energy (often heat).

 A gas cooker, heating a pan of water, takes energy from the chemical store of the gas and transfers it
to the thermal store of the water.
Example 1: A Television

 The energy changes in televisions are:

electrical energy ➝ light energy + sound energy + thermal energy

 Light and sound energy are useful energy transfers whereas thermal energy (from the heating up of
wires) is wasted.

Example 2: Heaters
 The energy changes in an electrical heater:
electrical energy ➝ thermal energy + sound energy + light energy

 In a gas cooker, the energy transfers are similar but the initial source of energy is different:
chemical energy ➝ thermal energy + sound energy + light energy

 In both these cases, thermal energy is useful, whereas sound and light are not.

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Example 3: Rollercoasters

 A rollercoaster increases its speed as it travels down a steep section of track and gains kinetic
energy (KE).
 When the rollercoaster travels up a steep section of track, this kinetic energy is transferred
into gravitational potential energy (GPE).
 These energy changes happen several times during a rollercoaster ride as the track goes up and
down and around.

 As the rollercoaster in the diagram travels from A to D, the energy changes that take place are:

GPE ➝ KE ➝ GPE ➝ KE

 Some energy is transferred to the surroundings as heat and sound energy too.

 At point A:
o The rollercoaster is raised above the ground, therefore it has GPE
o As it travels down the track, GPE is converted to KE and the roller coaster speeds up
 At point B:
o KE is converted to GPE as the rollercoaster rises up the loop
 At point C:
o This GPE is converted back into KE as the rollercoaster travels back down the loop
 At point D:
o The flat track means the rollercoaster only has KE

Example 4: Trampoline

 When jumping on a trampoline the energy changes are:

elastic potential energy ➝ kinetic energy ➝ gravitational potential energy

 Some energy is transferred to the surroundings as heat and sound energy too.

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Sankey Diagrams
 Describe a variety of everyday and scientific devices and situations, explaining the transfer of the
input energy into useful output energy and waste energy can be represented by Sankey diagrams.

 Diagrams are used to represent energy transfers

o These are sometimes called Sankey diagrams
 The arrow in a Sankey diagram represents the transfer of energy:
o The end of the arrow pointing to the right represents the energy that ends up in the
desired store (the useful energy output).
o The end that points down represents the wasted energy.

 The width of each arrow is proportional to the amount of energy going to each store
 As a result of the conversation of energy:

Total energy in = Useful energy out + Wasted energy

 The efficiency of a system can be represented using a Sankey diagram.

Total energy in, wasted energy and useful energy out shown on a Sankey diagram

 A Sankey diagram for a modern efficient light bulb will look very different from that for an old
filament light bulb.
 A more efficient light bulb has less wasted energy
o This is shown by the smaller arrow downwards representing the heat energy.

Sankey diagram for modern vs. old filament light bulb

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 A lamp has an efficiency of 20%. What does it mean?

Answer: This means 20% of the total energy input is transferred usefully as light and the rest
80 % is wasted as heat energy.

 Sankey diagram showing energy flow in a typical car.

A car engine uses chemical energy (fuel) to convert it into kinetic energy. But small amount of this
energy is lost while providing electrical energy for radios, lights. A considerable amount of the
energy is wasted as heat and sound.

 Complete the Sankey diagram for an electric lamp.

Solution:

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Efficiency
 Efficiency is defined as:
The ratio of the useful energy transferred by the device to the total energy supplied to the
device.

 If a system has high efficiency, this means most of the energy transferred is useful.
 If a system has low efficiency, this means most of the energy transferred is wasted.
 Determining which type of energy is useful or wasted depends on the system.
o When electrical energy is converted to light in a light bulb, the light energy is useful and the heat
energy produced is wasted.
o When electrical energy is converted to heat for a heater, the heat energy is useful and the sound
energy produced is wasted.

 Remember that conversation of energy still applies, so the total energy supplied goes to both the
useful and wasted energy transferred.
 Efficiency is represented as a percentage, and can be calculated using the equation:

 The energy can be of any form e.g. gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy.

Problem: The blades of a fan are turned by an electric motor. In one second, the motor gets 300 J of
electrical energy from the mains supply. 85 J of the energy is wasted as heat and sound. Calculate the
efficiency of the motor.

 Nothing is 100% efficient.

For example, in a lamp, not all the input energy is converted to light energy rather some energy is
wasted/lost to the surroundings as thermal energy.

 Some Energy Conversions:

 Chemical energy from food is converted to kinetic energy by our muscles for movement.
 Wind turbine uses kinetic energy to produce electrical energy. But some of its energy is lost as
heat and sound energy.
 The panels of solar cells transform light energy into electrical energy.
 An electric kettle converts electrical energy to thermal energy.
 A filament bulb uses electrical energy and converts it to light energy and some of its input
energy is lost as heat energy.
 An electric heater coverts electrical energy to thermal energy to heat the house but some
of the heat energy is used up to heat up the copper that the tank is made from. The energy
which is used up in heating the tank is the waste energy.

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