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Lightning is a huge electric discharge.

Energy - Transfer of Energy 02

Energy transfers happen all around you, from phones and lamps to cars. This GCSE Physics quiz explores how energy spreads out and becomes less useful.

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Fascinating Fact:

When energy is transferred, some becomes less useful, often as unwanted thermal energy in the surroundings.

In GCSE Physics, you learn that energy is conserved but can spread out and become less useful. Diagrams and calculations help you track energy transfers, identify wasted energy, and compare how efficient different devices are.

Key Terms

Useful energy: Energy transferred into a form that does the job you want, such as light from a lamp or kinetic energy in a moving vehicle.
Dissipated energy: Energy that has spread into the surroundings, usually as heat and sound, making it difficult to use for any further useful purpose.
Efficiency: A measure of how much input energy is transferred usefully, usually written as a number between 0 and 1 or as a percentage.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What happens to energy when it is wasted?

When energy is wasted, it is usually transferred to the surroundings as heat or sound. It becomes spread out, or dissipated, so it is much harder to use usefully again.

How do you calculate efficiency in GCSE Physics?

Efficiency is calculated by dividing the useful output energy by the total input energy. You then multiply by 100 if you want the answer as a percentage.

Why are 100 percent efficient devices impossible in real life?

In real devices, some energy is always transferred to the surroundings as heat, sound, or friction. Because of this unavoidable dissipation, no real device can be 100 percent efficient.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

What type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Photograph courtesy of Thomas Claveirole at Flickr

Kinetic

Sound

Heat

All of the above

Whilst the primary operation of a washing machine is to transfer electrical energy into kinetic energy and heat energy to wash the clothes, sound energy and light (from the indicator lights) energy are also produced. Sound and some of the heat is wasted energy

2 .

What type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Light

Heat

Sound

Light and heat

Filament bulbs are very inefficient and transfer only about 10% of the energy supplied to them into useful light energy

3 .

What type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Light

Thermal

Kinetic

All of the above

The main useful energy transfer is electrical to kinetic energy for the motor that drives the compressor. The light is useful to see what is inside of the fridge

4 .

What useful type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Heat

Sound

Light

Mechanical

Before electric irons were invented, irons were heated using a fire

5 .

What type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Heat

Light

Sound

All of the above

Kettles produce all three types of energy, primarily heat but they commonly use LEDs or other indicator lights to show whether they are switched on or off and produce sound as the water is getting close to boiling

6 .

What type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Sound

Light

Heat

All of the above

All electronic devices produce heat because of the resistance in the components

7 .

What type of useful energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Heat

Sound

Elastic potential

Mechanical

The body of the slow cooker is well insulated and most consume only small amounts of electrical energy as they take many hours to cook the food

8 .

What is the most important of the energy transfers in this appliance?

Electrical to heat

Light to sound

Chemical to heat

Electrical to kinetic

The toaster contains resistance wire inside the casing. The flow of electricity transfers a lot of its energy to the atoms of the wire which radiates the heat, cooking the bread to form toast

9 .

What type of waste energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Light

Sound

Heat

All of the above

Remember, all electronic devices will waste some of the electrical energy as heat

10 .

What type of energy does this appliance convert electricity to?

Sound

Heat

Kinetic

All of the above

A vacuum cleaner uses electricity to rotate a motor which creates a partial vacuum (low pressure area) within the machine. The air pressure surrounding the vacuum cleaner is therefore much higher than inside the machine. Gases flow naturally from higher to lower pressure, the greater the difference in pressure, the greater the flow. The air therefore flows in to the low pressure area at high speed, taking with it the dust, dirt particles etc. This process creates a lot of sound energy and heat energy both of which do not help the appliance to do its job and are therefore waste energies

Author: Martin Moore