Topic 1 - Energy Flashcards
What is a closed system?
A system that experiences no net change in its total energy when energy transfers occur within it.
What is conservation of energy?
The law that energy can be transferred, stored or
dissipated but never created or destroyed.
What is efficiency?
The ratio of useful output energy transfer to total energy input.
What is elastic potential energy?
The store of energy that stretched or compressed
objects experience. It is directly proportional to the stiffness constant and to the
square of the extension or compression.
What are the 3 fossil fuels?
Coal, oil and gas.
What is gravitational potential energy (GPE)?
The store of energy that all raised matter has. It
is directly proportional to the mass of the object, the distance that it is risen and
the gravitational field strength at that point.
What is a Joule?
The unit used for energy. Equal to the work done when a force of one
Newton acts over a distance of one metre.
What is kinetic energy?
The store of energy that all moving matter has. It is directly proportional to the object’s mass and to the square of its velocity.
Define power?
The rate at which energy is transferred, or at which work is done.
What is a renewable energy resource?
An energy resource that can be replenished whilst it is being used.
What is specific heat capacity?
The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1kg of a substance by 1C.
What is a spring constant?
A measure of a spring’s stiffness. The greater the value, the greater the force required to stretch or compress the spring by a given distance.
What is a system?
A single, or group, of objects.
What is thermal conductivity?
The higher this value is for a given material, the higher the material’s rate of energy transfer via conduction will be.
What is waste energy?
Energy that isn’t usefully used for the purpose of the system.
What are watts?
A unit of power. One Watt is equivalent to one joule of work being done in one second.
What is work done?
The energy transferred when a force acts over a distance.
Give examples of chemical energy stores?
- Food
- Fuel
- Batteries
State 4 different stores of energy?
- Kinetic Energy
- Gravitational Potential Energy
- Elastic Potential Energy
- Chemical Energy
How can the efficiency of a system be increased?
- Reducing waste output (by lubrication, thermal insulation etc.)
- Recycling waste output (e.g. recycling thermal waste energy as input energy)
Give me four examples of renewable energy resources.
- Wind Energy
- Hydro Electricity
- Tidal Energy
- Solar Energy
Explain the environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels?
- Carbon Dioxide contributes to the greenhouse effect, and causes global warming
- Sulphur Dioxide leads to acid rain, which can damage buildings and crops
Give an example of a social factor which may act as a deterrent for certain type of energy production?
- Visual Pollution
- Sound Pollution
