ENERGY, WORK & POWER

Energy Stores & Transfers

 Energy is the capacity of something to do work.
 It is measured in units of Joules (J).
 Energy is a scalar quan ty.
 Energy will o en be described as part of an energy system.
 In physics, a system is defined as: An object or group of objects.
The principle of conserva on of energy states that:
1. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one store to
another.
2. In any change, there is the same amount of energy a er the change as there was before
the change.
There are many different ways that energy can be stored.
Energy stores
Chemical energy
 Energy stored in chemical bonds is called chemical energy. The energy stored in ba eries
and food is stored as chemical energy.
 Explosives and fuels store large amounts of chemical energy that transfers to thermal
energy when they burn.
 A chemical reac on must happen to release this stored form of energy.
Example: To get energy from coal or petrol, we must burn them. Burning is a chemical reac on.

Elas c energy or strain energy

 Stretch a rubber band or squeeze a spring and it will store
elas c energy un l you release it.

 Elas c energy can also be stored in objects when they’re

squashed or twisted.
 Example: Energy stored in a stretched spring or elas c band.
Nuclear energy
 The energy stored inside the nucleus of an atom is called nuclear energy or
atomic energy.
 This store of energy powers nuclear reactors, nuclear bombs, and the Sun.

Internal(thermal) energy
o Energy of an object due to its temperature.
o If you heat an object so that it gets ho er, you are giving energy to its atoms.
The energy stored in a hot object is called internal energy

Electrosta c energy
o Energy due to the force of a rac on (or repulsion) between two charges.

Kine c energy
o Energy stored in an object due its mo on.
o Kine c energy of any moving object can be found by using the equa on:
𝟏
Kine c energy = x m x v2
𝟐

m = mass of the object in kilograms (kg)

v = speed of the object in metres per second (m/s)
o Kine c energy of an object depends on its mass and speed.

Gravita onal poten al energy (GPE)

o The energy an object has due to its height in a gravita onal field.
o The GPE of an object can be calculated using the equa on:
GPE = m x g x Δh
m = mass, in kilograms (kg)
g = gravita onal field strength in Newtons per kilogram (N/kg)
Δh = change in height in metres (m)
NOTE:
Water stored in a dam has gravita onal poten al energy.
Energy Transfers
 The conversion of one form of energy into another, or the movement of energy from one
place to another is called energy transfer.
 Energy can be transferred between stores through different energy transfer pathways
Examples of these are:
 Mechanical
 Electrical
 Hea ng
 Radia on
Mechanical working – by the ac on of a force
When a force acts on a body, Energy can be transferred between two forms.
Examples
1. For a falling object:
Energy is transferred from the gravita onal poten al store to the kine c
store of the object via a mechanical transfer pathway (ac on of a
gravita onal force).

2. Stopping Car/ vehicle

To stop a car, the driver presses on the brakes. The brake
blocks press on the wheels. The force of fric on force slows
the car un l it stops. The brake blocks get hot (internal
energy). That is where the kine c energy goes.

Electrical working – by an electric current.

Electricity can transfer energy from a power source, delivering it to all the electronic
components(devices) in our house to make them work.
Hea ng – by conduc on, convec on or radia on.
Internal(thermal) energy can be transferred from place to place by the processes of conduc on,
convec on and radia on.
Example
Ironing of clothes is an example of conduc on where the heat is conducted from the iron to the
clothes.
Radia on— as waves
Light and sound carry energy can transfer it between places.
Different forms of radia on— such as visible light, X-rays, and microwaves— transfer energy at
incredible speeds.
Examples
1. Our planet gets most of its energy in the form of radia on from the Sun.
2. If you bang a drum, it vibrates. We hear the bang of the drum. Its energy has been
transferred through the air as sound energy.
ENERGY FLOW DIAGRAMS
 Energy stores and transfers can be represented using a flow diagram
 This shows both the stores and the transfers
Energy flow diagram showing energy stores and transfers in a nuclear power plant

Note the colour difference of the labels (stores) and the arrows (transfer pathways)

The flow diagram showing energy stores and transfers in a flashlight

The stores are indicated by blue boxes and the transfers by the green boxes with arrows.
SANKEY DIAGRAMS
 An effec ve way to represent the principle of conserva on of energy is by using a Sankey
diagram.
 We can use a Sankey diagram to represent the energy conversion involving mul ple stages.
 A Sankey diagram begins with the energy input on
the le and branches out into useful energy
output and wasted energy.
 The useful energy output branch points to the
right and wasted energy branch points
downwards.
 The width of each arrow is propor onal to the
amount of energy going to each store.
 As a result of the conversa on of energy:
Total energy in = Useful energy out + Wasted energy

Example
Sankey diagram for filament bulb and LED bulb
Filament bulb LED bulb

 This Sankey diagram shows that for every 100 J of electrical energy supplied to a Filament
bulb, 10 J of useful energy is transferred. The light bulb is not very efficient – most of the
energy is wasted.
 Where as you can see that LED bulb is more efficient because the light energy arrow is much
wider than it is for the filament bulb.
 WORK

What is Work done?

Work is done whenever a force acts on an object that moves (or is moving) in the direc on of
the force.
The amount of work that is done if related to the size of the force and the
distance moved by the object in the direc on of the force:
work done = force × distance moved
W=F×d
 The distance(d) must be parallel to the direc on of force.
 The greater the force, the greater the work
 The larger the distance moved, the larger the work
 The units of work are joules (J) (the same as the units of energy), but can also be given as
newton metres (Nm)
 The me taken to do work does not influence the amount of work done.

Note
o Whenever we do work, we transfer energy.
o If you give energy to an object, then you have done work on that object
o The amount of energy transferred (in joules) is equal to the work done (also in joules)
energy transferred (J) = work done (J)
o Usually, if a force acts in the direc on that an object is moving then the object will gain
energy
o If the force acts in the opposite direc on to the movement, then the object will lose energy

Examples of zero work:

1) A simple example of zero work is when you stand holding a bag in your hands and do not
move it. Your hands apply a force on the bag to balance the force of gravity exerted on it but
since there is no displacement(distance) of the bag, the work done on it by you (your force) and
also the gravity is zero.
2) When a body is moving on a horizontal surface, work done by the gravity is zero since the
direc on of the gravita onal force exerted on the body is downwards and perpendicular to the
direc on of the distance of the body.
 POWER
o Power means the rate at which you do work (that is, how fast you work).
o The more work you do, and the shorter the me in which you do it, the greater your power.
o Power is the rate at which energy is transferred, or the rate at which work is done.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝

Power = or Power =
𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧

𝐖 𝐄
P= or P =
𝐭 𝐭

o Power is measured in wa s (W).

o One wa (1 W) is the power when one joule (1 J) of work is done per unit me. So, one wa
is one joule per second.

Finding efficiency
o The efficiency of a device is the percentage of energy transferred usefully.
o Efficiency can be calculated from either energy or power.

𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭

Efficiency = X 100%
𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭

𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭

Efficiency = X 100%
𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭

Energy transfer in a bouncing ball

o When a ball hits the ground, it deforms. Its kine c energy is changed to Elas c Poten al Energy (EPE)
when it changes shape.
o As it changes back to its original shape and
bounces back up, the EPE that has been
stored is changed to kine c energy.
o Eventually all its kine c energy is changed
to GPE and it reaches the top of its
bounce.
o If you drop a ball from a height, it will not
bounce back up to the same height.
o This is because not all the kine c energy
that the ball had before the bounce is
returned to the ball a er the bounce.
o When the material deforms its par cles
change posi on. This heats the ball up a
bit. The thermal energy in the environment
increases slightly.
o If some energy is wasted as thermal energy, then the ball will have less kine c energy a er it bounces
than before.
o The ball will reach a lower and lower height each me it bounces un l it stops. All of the GPE the ball
had when you held it up at the start has now been transferred to thermal energy in the environment.
Energy transfer in a ver cal spring
When the load is pulled down a small distance below its equilibrium
posi on to posi on A, as shown in Figure. The load then moves up
and down between posi on A and posi on B.
o The energy transfers which occur as the load moves:
 from posi on A to the equilibrium posi on is elas c energy to
kine c energy
 from the equilibrium posi on to posi on B is kine c energy to
gravita onal poten al energy

Energy transfer in a simple pendulum

o A pendulum is a ball on a string that swings
backwards and forwards.
o To start the pendulum swinging you pull it back and
let it go.
o When you pull the pendulum back you are also
pulling it up, so its GPE increases.
o When you let it go, it falls, and this GPE is converted
into kine c energy.
o As the ball swings up again, its kine c energy is
converted back into GPE.

Energy transfer while Bungee jumping

 Grace is doing a bungee jump. She first goes up on a high bridge.
 She a aches a strong elas c cord to her legs. When she is standing on the bridge, she has GPE.
 She jumps off and starts to speed up. Her GPE is changed to kine c energy.

 Eventually the bungee cord is straight and starts to stretch. Now some of her kine c energy changes to
Elas c energy stored in the cord.
 The cord con nues to stretch un l she stops moving for an instant at the bo om of her fall.
 At this point all her kine c energy has been changed into Elas c energy.
 She then starts to move up again and the Elas c energy is changed back into kine c energy.