Monday, February 23, 2015

2/23/15

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 50. To support you in this, you can check out 14.2 and 14.3 from Botkin and Keller from background information about energy and here (paper) or here (video) for help with math/unit conversions.

Here is the link to today's Powerpoint.

Energy Basics and Conversion Practice Questions

Answer all of the following questions to the best of your ability. SHOW YOUR WORK and write in complete sentences. You are going to need looseleaf. Do not try to be that kid that scrunches their lame answer in between questions and does not show work. Please and thank you.

1. A 100 Watt incandescent light bulb uses 100 J/sec of electrical energy. If it is 20% efficient, then the bulb converts 20% of the electrical energy into light and 80% is wasted by being transformed into heat (light bulbs are hot).

a. How does this demonstrate the 1st and/or 2nd Law of Thermodynamics?

b. How much energy (in joules) does the light bulb consume in a week?

c. Convert your answer to 1b. to kilowatt-hours (kWh).

2. Wes wants to help his mom save money by not vacuuming the house daily. He suggests that the house only needs to be vacuumed once a month. If their vacuum cleaner uses 1500 watts and it takes one hour to vacuum the house, how much can Wes save a year if his mom accepts his plan? Assume 1 kWh costs $0.10.

3. The environmental impact of washing a load of dirty dishes in an electric dishwasher differs from that of washing them by hand in a sink. Use the information and data below to answer the questions that follow. Show your calculations.

Assume the following:

·         The dishes all fit in one load.
·         The water coming into the water heater for the sink and into the water heater in the dishwasher is at 50°F.
·         The water heaters for the sink and the dishwasher are both 100 percent efficient.
·         In one complete cycle, the electric dishwasher uses 10 gallons of water heated to 140°F and the dishwasher also uses 0.500 kilowatt-hour of electrical energy for its mechanical operation.
·         Washing the dishes by hand requires 20 gallons of water heated to 110°F.

Other Information:

1 gallon of water = 8 pounds of water
1 BTU = the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1°F
1 kilowatt-hour = 3,400 BTU

a. Calculate the total energy (in BTU’s) used to heat the water and run the electric dishwasher to wash a load of dishes.

b. Calculate the energy (in BTU’s) used to heat the water for washing the load of dishes by hand.

c. Discuss the economic and environmental costs and benefits of

            1. using the electric dishwasher (including its manufacture and disposal)

            2. washing the dishes by hand


4. Answer the questions below regarding the heating of a house in Minnesota. Assume the following.

• The house has 2,000 square feet of living space.
• 80,000 BTUs of heat per square foot are required to heat the house for the winter.
• Natural gas is available at a cost of $5.00 per thousand cubic feet.
• One cubic foot of natural gas supplies 1,000 BTUs of heat energy.
• The furnace in the house is 80 percent efficient.

Calculate the following, showing all the steps of your calculations, including units.

a. The number of cubic feet of natural gas required to heat the house for one winter

b. The cost of heating the house for one winter



5. How does today’s discussion of energy relate to sustainability?

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