Question

When energy is changed from one form to another, some of the energy is lost to the surroundings as waste thermal energy. The more steps needed to arrive at the desired energy or the more types of energy that are generated, the more energy is wasted. Which object would likely have the least amount of wasted energy?

Answer 1

Full question:

When energy is changed from one form to another, some of the energy is lost to the surroundings as waste thermal energy. The more steps needed to arrive at the desired energy or the more types of energy that are generated, the more energy is wasted.

Which object would likely have the least amount of wasted energy?

A) an electric drill

B) a solar cell

C) a car engine

D) a hydroelectric dam

Solar cell

Explanation:

In an electric drill, the conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy takes place. Heat energy is obtained when the desired object gets broken with the drill.

In car engine, thermal energy is obtained from the chemical energy which in turn is converted into mechanical energy which is very essential for moving car.

In hydroelectric dam, energy is obtained from water that is stored in dam. The potential energy of water is transformed into mechanical energy which in turn is converted into kinetic energy which again is transformed into an electrical energy.

In the above methods the transformation of energy takes many steps wherein more amount of energy gets wasted.

In Solar cell, the energy that is obtained from the sun is directly converted into electrical energy. Hence, in solar cell, only less amount of energy will be wasted.