Answer:
The total energy in the system remains the same as the decrease in chemical energy equals the increase in thermal and radiant energy
Explanation:
According to the law of conservation of energy, "energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but only transformed".
This means that for an isolated system, the total energy of the system must remain constant.
In this case, the total energy of the system (the battery and the lightbulb) is the sum of 3 components:
- Chemical energy of the battery
- Thermal energy (the heat produced by the light bulb)
- Radiant energy (the light emitted by the bulb)
The sum of these 3 components of energy must be constant.
At the beginning, all the energy is stored as chemical energy inside the battery. Later, this energy is converted into electrical energy first (when the current starts circulating through the circuit), and finally, this energy is entirely converted into thermal energy and radiant energy as heat and light emitted by the bulb.
