Energy Transfers in Appliances (Oxford AQA IGCSE Physics)
Revision Note
Written by: Dan Mitchell-Garnett
Reviewed by: Caroline Carroll
Energy Transfers in Appliances
Electrical appliances are designed to transfer energy electrically to different stores
These stores are summarised in the table below
Energy Stores Table
Energy Store | Description |
Kinetic | Moving objects have energy in their kinetic store |
Gravitational | Objects gain energy in their gravitational potential store when they are lifted through a gravitational field |
Elastic | Objects have energy in their elastic potential store if they are stretched, squashed or bent |
Magnetic | Magnetic materials interacting with each other have energy in their magnetic store |
Electrostatic | Objects with charge (like electrons and protons) interacting with one another have energy in their electrostatic store |
Chemical | Chemical reactions transfer energy into or away from a substance's chemical store |
Nuclear | Atomic nuclei release energy from their nuclear store during nuclear reactions |
Thermal | All objects have energy in their thermal store, the hotter the object, the more energy it has in this store |
Boiling water in a kettle
When an electric kettle boils water, energy is transferred through electrical transfer from the mains electricity supply to the thermal store of the heating element inside the kettle
As the heating element gets hotter, energy is transferred by heating to the thermal store of the water
Energy transfer in a kettle
Worked Example
Describe the energy transfers when a battery-powered fan is turned on to cool a room on a hot day.
Answer:
Step 1: Consider the energy stored in the battery
Energy is stored in the battery's chemical store
Step 2: Consider the transfer
This energy is transferred electrically to the moving part of the fan
Step 3: State the final energy store in the transfer
The energy is transferred to the fan blades' kinetic store
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