Problem-Solving Activity
Transmitting Electricity to a New School
You have been hired as an electrical engineer at your local power plant. Your first task is to plan how electrical energy can be transmitted from the power plant to a school that will soon be built. There are many things you need to investigate. What is the voltage generated at the power plant? How should it be stepped up for transmission? How can it be stepped down for use in the new school?
Defining the Problem Write a few sentences that describe your task and the steps you can take to complete it.
Organizing Information Research the steps that are taken to transmit electrical energy from the power plant to other schools in your area.
Creating a Solution Decide what steps you would take to transmit electrical energy to the new school.
Presenting Your Plan Create a poster showing how electrical energy can be transmitted to the new school. Include descriptions of the types of transformers you could use.
Electrical Energy for Your Home
A single electric light uses relatively little electrical energy by itself. A massive amount of electrical energy, however, is needed for the lights and other electrical devices that are used by people in an entire city. Consumption on that scale requires equally huge production of electrical energy to meet the demand.
Most of the electrical energy generated in the United States is produced using coal as an energy source. Some other sources are water (hydroelectric), nuclear energy, wind, natural gas, and petroleum. Below each of the generators shown in Figure 17 is a large turbine, which can convert energy from one of these sources into electrical energy. A turbine is a device with fanlike blades that turn when pushed, for example, by water or steam. Burning fossil fuels or nuclear reactions can heat water to produce steam that spins a turbine. Water from a reservoir behind a dam can also turn a turbine. To produce electrical energy, the turbine may turn the coils of a generator or it may spin magnets around the coils of wire.
What can push the blades of a turbine?
Figure 17 A turbine turns the magnet inside the coil of a generator. Predicting What would happen if a turbine turned faster?
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