Energy Transfer and Efficiency flashcards

Definition of a System:

An object or group of objects that interact (e.g., a catapult and a marble).

Catapult Example of Energy Transfer:

-Energy store that gets depleted: Elastic energy store of the catapult.

-Energy store that fills up: Kinetic store of the marble.

-Process of energy transfer: Explanation required.

Energy Transfer in a Plane:

Chemical store (fuel) to kinetic store (speeding up) to gravitational potential store (climbing) to thermal store

Kettle Example:

Chemical energy in fuel is converted to thermal energy in water, with energy transfer illustrated before and after boiling.

Law of Conservation of Energy:

Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred between stores.

The total energy in a closed system remains constant.

Energy Efficiency:

Not all energy transferred is useful; some may be lost as waste energy (e.g., thermal energy due to friction).