P5.

5
Teacher practical

Electrical energy transfer

Specification references:
 P1.2.2 Efficiency
 P2.4.2 Energy transfers in everyday appliances
 MS 1a, 3b, 3c, 3d
 WS 1.2, 1.4, 4.5

Aims
In this activity, students will use the unit of kilowatt-hour (kW h) to measure
electrical energy transferred, and calculate costs of using electrical appliances.
They will revise the concept of efficiency, calculating it using energies or powers.

Learning outcomes
After completing this activity, students should be able to:
 state two units of energy transfer
 calculate energy transfer in joules and in kilowatt-hours, and convert between the two
 calculate the power rating of a device from the energy transferred and the time it was operating
 describe the factors that affect the cost of using electrical devices
 analyse the use of a variety of electrical devices to find their operating costs
 convert efficiencies between percentage and decimal forms
 compare a range of electrical devices in terms of efficiency.

Teacher notes
 This activity should follow an introduction to the kilowatt-hour and calculating power and energy for
electrical appliances.
 In Question 5 and Follow up / Extension Question 9 the price of a unit of
electricity is given as 10p. If this has changed significantly since this activity
was written, you may wish to change it accordingly. Note that this will change
the answers to Questions 5 and 7 and Follow up / Extension Question 9.

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Answers to questions
1 joule, J (1); kilowatt-hour, kW h (1) (2 marks)
The table summarises the answers to Questions 2–5. The mark scheme below
shows the calculation steps and the mark allocations.

Time Energy Energy Energy Cost

Power
Appliance used per per day in per day per year per year
in W
day J in kW h in kW h in £
electric kettle 2 200 3 min  5 1 980 000 0.55 201 20.10
electric shower 10 500 20 min 12 600 000 3.5 1278 127.80
broadband
10 24 h 864 000 0.24 88 8.80
wireless router

2 Kettle: t  3 min  60 s/min  5 ( 900 s) (1); E  2200 W  900 s (1);  1 980 000 J (1)
Shower: t  20 min  60 s/min ( 1200 s) (1); E  10 500 W  1200 s  12 600 000 J (1)
Router: t  24 h  60 min/h  60 s/min ( 86 400 s) (1) E  10 W  864 00
s  864 000 J (1) (7 marks)
3 Kettle: E  2.2 kW (1);  0.25 h (1);  0.55 kW h (1)
Shower: E  10.5 kW (1);  0.333 h (1);  3.5 kW h (1)
Router: E  0.01 kW (1);  24 h  0.24 kW h (1) (8 marks)
4 Kettle: E  0.55 kW h  365 (1);  200.75 kW h (1);  201 kW h
(nearest whole number) (1)
Shower: E  3.5 kW h  365 (1);  1277.5 kW h (1);  1278 kW h
(nearest whole number) (1)
Router: E  0.24 kW h  365 (1);  87.6 kW h (1);  88 kW h
(nearest whole number) (1) (9 marks)
5 Kettle: 201  £0.10 (1);  £20.10 (1)
Shower: 1278  £0.10  £127.80 (1)
Router: 88  £0.10  £8.80 (1) (4 marks)
6 Any one of: kilowatt-hours give smaller numbers for energy, so easier to understand /
to work with; cost of energy per joule would be tiny fraction of one penny. (1 mark)
10 k W h
7 a £1.00 pays for 10 units (or 10 kW h) (1); t  0.01 k W (1);  1000 h (1) (3 marks)
b 42 days (nearest whole number) (1 mark)
10 k W h
c t  2.2 k W (1);  5 h (nearest whole number) (1) (2 marks)
E 105 J
P= =
8 a t (stated or implied) (1); 30 s  3.5 W (1) (2 marks)

b (1);  1200 W  1.2 kW (1) (2 marks)

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9 1000 J/s  1 h  60 min/h  60 s/min (1);  3 600 000 J (1) (2 marks)

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Student follow up answers

1 kW is unit of power (1); kW h is unit of energy (1).
OR
kW means energy converted at rate of 1000 J per s (1); kW h means energy
transferred when energy converted for one hour at rate of 1000 J per s (1). (2
marks)
2 Any two of: power of appliance; time appliance used for; setting on appliance
or way it is used, with specific example (e.g., temperature of oven/iron,
whether computer is in sleep or active mode). (2 marks)
3 The table shows the correct answers, in bold. (3 marks)

Efficiency expressed Efficiency expressed

Appliance
as decimal as a percentage
low-energy light-emitting
0.90 90
diode (LED)
halogen bulb 0.25 25
filament lamp 0.20 20
electric heater 1.00 100

4 (1);  100%  17% (1) (2 marks)

5 a wasted power  1500 W − 400 W (1);  1100 J per second (1) (2 marks)

b (1);  0.266… or 0.27 (2 s.f.) (1) (2 marks)

6 useful power output  (5.0 W − 0.7 W)  4.3 W (1)
4.3 W
efficiency=
5 .0 W (1);  100%  86% (1) (3 marks)
7 Efficiency over 100% would mean more useful output power/energy than input
power/energy (1); and energy cannot be created / energy is conserved (1). (2
marks)

Extension
8 wasted energy  20%  1000 J (1);  200 J (or equivalent calculation) (1) (2
marks)
9 reduction in power  0.060 kW − 0.005 kW (1);  0.055 kW (1)
reduction in energy per day  0.055 kW  4 h (1);  0.22 kW h (1)
reduction in energy per year  0.22 kW h  365 (1);  80.3 kW h (1)
reduction in cost per year  80.3 kW  £0.10 (1);  £8.03 (or equivalent
calculation) (1) (8 marks)
10 Incandescent bulbs transfer more energy by heating (1); causing home
heating to use (very) slightly less energy (if using thermostat) (1). (2 marks)

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45 000 J
11 useful output power  5 min×60 s/min (1);  150 W (1)
150 W
efficiency 650 W (1);  0.23 (2 s.f.) (or equivalent calculation using energies) (1)
(4 marks)

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Additional support and challenge

 This topic involves a lot of maths, and includes conversion between decimals
and percentages. Some students may need to see several worked examples
of power and efficiency calculations before they can work on calculations
independently.

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