Topic 4 Review
Electrical Energy Sources and Alternatives
Electric Power
Step-up vs. Step-down Transformer
What is electric power?
What is the difference between step-up and step-down transformers?
When electricity travels over transmission lines, step-up transformers are employed to boost the voltage. However, before power reaches your home, step-down transformers are used to lower the voltage.
Power Station -> Transmission Lines -> Home
Step-up Transformers is Power Station to Transmission Lines. Transmission Lines to Home is step-down transformer.
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From Grid To home
Microcircuits
What the process by which electricity enters your home?
The function of the metre is to keep track of the total amount of electric energy supplied to the equipment in your home.
After being metered, electricity passes through a service panel connected to the main circuit breaker. The breaker acts as a safety switch, switching off all electricity to the house if the current exceeds a certain threshold. In older homes, a fuse box is more prevalent than a breaker panel. A metallic conductor in a fuse melts when an enormous current heats it up.
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The meter's purpose is to keep track of the overall amount of electric energy provided to your home's equipment.
Electricity travels through a service panel attached to the main circuit breaker after being metered. If the current surpasses a specific threshold, the breaker works as a safety switch, cutting off all electricity to the house.
And lastly, House Wiring. Multiple electrical devices on the same circuit are not impacted by other devices on the same circuit, so our refrigerators do not functioning when a light bulb burns out in a normal home.
Microcircuits are made up of microscopic transistors and resistors. It is a miniature circuit!
Transistors have the same role as a conventional switch, however, they are much smaller and are made of solid material with no moving parts.
Alternative Sources of Energy
Each of the Alternative sources of energy:
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Hydropower: A type of renewable energy that generates electricity in hydropower plants by using water stored in dams and flowing through rivers.
Tidal Power: The surge of ocean waters during the rise and fall of tides generates energy.
Nuclear Power: Electricity produced by power stations that get their heat from nuclear reactor fission
Solar Power: Heat is produced when solar energy (light) is converted to electricity or utilized to heat air, water, or other fluids.
Geothermal Power: Heat energy from within the Earth is captured and exploited for cooking, bathing, space heating, electrical power generation, and other purposes in this type of energy conversion.
Wind Power: The process of generating mechanical power or electricity from the wind.
Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources
Renewable Resources are resources that can be supplied naturally in a short amount of time. Nonrenewable Resource is when a resource is depleted, it cannot be replaced naturally.
Measuring Electric Power
The quantity of electric energy that is turned into other forms of energy every second is referred to as electric power (heat, light, sound, motion).
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P= E divide t
P=Power (watts)
E = Energy (Joules)
t = Time (seconds)
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P = IV
P= Power (watts)
I = Current (Amps)
V = Voltage (Volts)
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Unit Conversions
Despite the fact that power is commonly measured in watts, one watt is a modest amount of electric energy. When assessing the cost of power, watts are usually converted to kilowatts (kW). This is done by multiplying the supplied number of watts by 1000.
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1000 W = 1 kW
W -> divide by 100 -> kW
3450.5 W = 3.4505 kW
1430 W = 1.43 kW
Examples: 2500 W = 2.5 kW
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Paying for Electricity
Example: A meter reader determines that a business has used 3550 kW∘hr of energy over a period of two months. If the power company charges 10 cents per kW∘hr, calculate the bill that the company will receive.
The consumer is charged by the power company for the quantity of power used per hour. Kilowatt hours (kWhr) are the units used to measure the quantity of electricity used per hour.
Cost = energy consumed (kW∘hr) X cost charged by power company ($ per kW∘hr)
Energy consumed = 3550 kW∘hr
Cost charged by company = 0.1 $ / kW∘hr
Cost = ?
Cost = energy consumed X cost charged by power company
Cost = 3550 kW∘hr X 0.1 $ / kW∘hr
Cost = $355