Physics
In a hydraulic power station, water is first stored in a dam at a higher altitude.
(a) What is the purpose of being stored at higher altitudes?
(b) When the water is allowed to fall on a turbine, what change of energy takes place for the water?
(c) Why is this turbine connected to the armature of a generator?
(d) Which basic law of physics is followed by the whole mechanism?
Answer
(a) The higher the altitude, the greater the potential energy, which can be efficiently converted into kinetic and then into electrical energy when released.
(b) As water flows down, potential energy of water is transformed into kinetic and heat energy which is then converted into electrical energy via the generator.
(c) The turbine spins due to water flow, and it is mechanically linked to the armature of the generator. This rotation induces a current, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, according to electromagnetic induction principles.
(d) The entire process is based on the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Related Questions
You are doing an experiment on the refraction of light in your Physics laboratory. ABCD is a rectangular block. A ray of light is incident obliquely on the surface AB.
(a) Draw the path of the ray of light through the glass block and also show how it emerges from the block. [ The diagram should show the lateral displacement suffered by the ray.]
(b) Which two pairs of angles remain the same during the experiment?
(c) If the same experiment is performed first with red and then with blue light, which colour will suffer greater lateral displacement?
In the graph, a given quantity of ice is converted to water.
(a) What does the portion AB represent?
(b) Why is the portion AB parallel to the time axis?
(c) Why is the slope OA steeper than the slope BC?
In the given diagram, two transparent optical media are shown. The rarer medium is air, while the denser medium is water. Redraw the diagram by showing the paths of the rays after striking the surface of separation AD for the incident rays OA, OB, OC and OD, respectively. (Critical angle for the denser medium = 48°)
