Section 15.

Electrical power

• Heating effect of current

• Electrical power

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 15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 67)

Heating effect of current

current passing through 

temperature 
Reason
charges lose energy to atoms
by collision
Go to  atoms vibrate more
Discussion 5 vigorously
 heats up
electrical energy  heat
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Electrical power

Electrical Electrical energy transferred


power Time taken
E
P
t

unit: watt (W)

Go to

Discussion 6
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15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 67)

Electrical power

each second each second

consumes 100 J consumes 60 J

220 V 220 V

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15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 68)

Electrical power

(1) Useful equations of electrical power

P E
t

QV
 E  QV 
t
Q 
V 
 t 
P  VI
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15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 68)

Electrical power

(2) Useful equations of electrical power

P  VI
 IR  I V  IR
 P  I 2R

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15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 68)

Electrical power

(3) Useful equations of electrical power

P  VI
V   V
V   I  
R  R
V2
P 
R

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Electrical power

P  VI
or

P I R 2

or
2
V
P
R
Thinking 5
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 To section 15.6

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15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 66)
Return to

Discussion 5: Text
In each of the following electrical appliances,
what kind of energy will the electrical energy be
converted to?
Electric cooker, fluorescent tube, electric iron,
vacuum cleaner, radio, washing machine, toaster
Answer
Electric cooker – heat, fluorescent tube – light,
electric iron – heat, vacuum cleaner – mechanical
energy, radio – sound, washing machine – mechanical
energy and toaster – heat.
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15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 67)

Discussion 6:
In Chapter 6, we have learnt that power is
defined as
Energy transferred
P=
Time Taken
Discuss with your classmates how to derive an
equation in terms of the electrical power (P),
voltage (V ) and current (I ) from their definitions.
E Q
V , I Answer
Q t Return to

E E Q Text
 P     VI
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t Q t 11
15.5 Electrical power (SB p. 68)

Thinking 5
In the circuit, L1, L2 and L3 are three identical light
bulbs.

L1

L3

L2

1. Is the power dissipated in L3 the same as

the sum of power dissipated in L1 and L2?
Answer
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Thinking 5 (Cont)

The current passing through L1 and L2 is only

half of the current passing through L3. Power
dissipated in L3 = I2R. The sum of power
2 2
I I
dissipated in L1 and L2 =   R    R
2 2
R power dissipated in L .
I  2
3
2

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Return to

Thinking 5 (Cont) Text

2. Arrange the light bulbs in descending order of
brightness. Answer
L1
L3
L2
L1 and L2 have the same resistance and current
passing through. By P = I2R, their brightness
is the same. By P = I2R, L3 is brighter than L1
and L2. Therefore the order of the brightness is
L3 > L1 = L2.
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