Energy Transfers in Appliances (Oxford AQA IGCSE Combined Science Double Award)

Revision Note

Electrical appliances are designed to transfer energy electrically to different stores
These stores are summarised in the table below

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

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

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

Step 2: Consider the transfer

Step 3: State the final energy store in the transfer

Last updated: 10 April 2024

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

Did this page help you?