You\'re riding down the road in your car, alternately eating a snack and singing

Question

You're riding down the road in your car, alternately eating a snack and singing along to the radio. List all the forms of energy in the car (and explain why you know that form is there), and what processes are going on converting one kind of energy to another. Estimation problem. Use what you know from chapter l, some reasonable estimates, and the information I give you below to guess how much total energy is used by homes in the city of Evansville in a year. Be clear and show your work, and when you guess at something, say why you think that's a reasonable guess. Your answer should be in some multiple of Watt-hours (so kWh or MWh or something like that would work). Average monthly electricity bill: $150 Evansville population: 120,000

Explanation / Answer

11. The forms of energy present in the car are:

chemical energy: snacks, petrol/diesel

Heat energy: Engine combustion

Sound energy: radio, engine sound, song sung by me along with the radio

Mechanical energy: movement of the car, body movement like movement of hands tongue

Potential energy:In car's battery

Chemical energy of car is getting converted to mechanical and heat energy by fuel combustion. Chemical energy of the snack is getting converted into potential and mechanical energy by digestion. Chemical energy/potential energy of the radio is also getting converted into heat and sound energy

12. Let the rate be 15 cents per kWh

Average energy used per person in a month = 150*100/15 kWh= 1000 kWh

Average energy used per person in a year= 12*1000 =12000kWh= 12MWh

Total energy used in a year= population * per person use =120000*12 MWh

=1440000 MWh = 1440 GWh

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