Name______________________________Date_________
Electricity Generation Laboratory
Please open the electricity generation virtual laboratory from Glencoe by visiting this address:
http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/science/virtual_labs/PS13/PS13.html. Follow these
directions to deepen your understanding of electricity generation. Good luck!
1. Click and drag one of the fuels into the fuel hopper. Ten kilograms of that fuel will be
burned. Record the fuel type and mass in the data table on the associated Google
Sheet.
2. Click the burn button. The burning fuel will create heat to produce steam. The steam will
cause the turbine to spin. Record in the data table the mass of water converted to
steam. This mass is displayed in the box near the turbine.
3. When the turbine spins, electricity (energy) is generated in kilowatt hours (kWh). The
reading on the kilowatt meter shows the number of kWh of electricity generated by
burning 10 kg of that fuel. Record this value in the data table.
Fuel Name
Fuel Mass (kg)
Water to Steam (kg)
Electricity (kW)
4. Watch the building light up. The fuel that generates the most kWh of electricity will light
more floors in the building and keep it lit for a longer period of time.
5. In the Google Sheet data table (make your own copy), calculate the heat generated
from burning 10 kg of the fuel you chose. Multiply the water converted to steam in kg
by 2258 kJ/kg - the heat of vaporization of water. The kg’s cancel so the result of your
calculation will be in kilojoules or kJ.
6. Calculate in the same data table the fuels’ efficiencies. This is done by dividing kWh of
electricity/kg of fuel.
7. Click the Reset button and select another fuel to test. When you are finished with your
testing and calculations, answer the following questions after pondering your results and
perhaps performing a little research.
QUESTIONS
1. Which fuel generated the most electric energy? Why do you believe this fuel produced
more energy than the others when combusted?
2. Which fuel generated the least electric energy? Why do you believe this fuel performed
so poorly when combusted?
3. How is the energy content of fuels related to their chemical structures?
4. Which of these fuels would you use to energize an electric generating plant? You can
choose any of the four fuels if you also truly support your choice.
Using the “How stuff works” website below as a guide, determine how much less coal is combusted and
less harmful gases are added to the atmosphere by Taft using light emitting diode bulbs (LED’s) and
motion sensors in the wall lighting in the Wu hallways rather than incandescent bulbs for a period of
five working days. The two LED bulbs in each wall sconce are 7.0 W that replace (provide as much
light in lumens) 60.0 W incandescent bulbs. Without motion detectors, the lights would stay on for
approximately fourteen hours a day (8AM to 10PM). Good luck!
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question481.htm
The thermal energy content of coal is 6,150 kWh/ton. Although coal fired power
generators are very efficient, they are still limited by the laws of thermodynamics, alas!
Only about 40 percent of the thermal energy in coal is converted to electricity. So the
electricity generated per ton of coal is 0.4 x 6,150 kWh or 2,460 kWh/ 1 ton of coal.
Number of wall sconces _______ x 2 lights/sconce = _______ lights total
_____lights x (60W – 7.0 W) x 1.0 kW/1000 W = ________ kW saved due to
LED usage in the Wu.
______kW saved x 70 hours = __________ kWh, energy saved in the Wu due (5 days
* 14 hours, 8AM to 10PM = 70 hours) to reliance on LED bulbs.
You estimate the hours weekly (out of the 70 hours of expected operation) that the lights
are not on in the Wu due to motion sensors (ms), _____h.
_____h x ____ lights total x 7.0 W/light x 1.0 kW/1000 W = _____ kWh saved
(7.0W is saved when each light is off) due to motion sensors
_____kWh saved due to ms + ________kWh saved due to LED’s =______kWh
total saved in the Wu
_____kWh saved x 1.0 ton Coal/______kWh of electricity = _____tons of
this number comes from the website coal not burned
____tons of coal x 2000.0 lbs of coal/ton = ______lbs of coal not burned
Coal use in the United States here.
Gases not emitted:
_____ lbs of SOx x _______kWh saved divided by _____ kWh to power that 100W bulb
_____ lbs of NOxx _______kWh saved divided by _____ kWh to power that 100W bulb
_____ lbs of CO2 x _______kWh saved divided by _____ kWh to power that 100W bulb
Gases & amounts not emitted per 5 days ____________, ___________, ___________
SOx
NOx
CO2