Energy Flashcards
Steps in a coal powered station
- pulverization
- transported to furnace
- thermal energy, boil water, steam
- steam, blades of turbine, spins
- turbine, shaft of generator, magnets, coils, electricity
- electric current, power lines
Hydroelectric power plant
Falling water, turbine, kinetic energy from water to generator
Generator converts
Mechanical energy to electrical energy
Portable generators
Run on fuel to turn shaft
Dynamo
- small generator
* person rotating a crank
Generator consists of
Large metal coils which move within a magnetic field. Stationary, rotated
Most alternative energy sources
Renewable
Only one commercial nuclear power station
Koeberg, Cape Town
Radiation
Nuclei in unstable elements spontaneously emit particles, nucleus is said to be radioactive
Radioactive decay
Process in which an unstable nucleus of an atom emits particles, decays into another atom, different mass
Nuclear fission
Nucleus is split into two smaller atoms, huge amount of energy
Nuclear fusion
Two atoms are brought together, new, bigger atom, heat and radiation
Uranium
Unstable, undergoes radioactive decay at slow rate, good choice for feul
Main difference between nuclear power station + other power station
Way in which water is heated to produce steam
Nuclear reactor vessel
Nuclear reactions, take place, controlled
