Science G9

Principles & Applications of Electricity

Class 9

Agenda
1. Take up Midterm Test
2. Quiz 9
3. Lesson 9
• Generating Electricity
• Hydro-electric, Tidal, Thermal, Wind, Solar
• Power
• Efficiency
• Electrical Usage
• Cost of Electricity

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 Generating Electricity

A source (water, steam, wind) A coil of copper wire inside the generator is held
causes the turbine to turn between a magnet. As the turbine rotates, the coil of
(mechanical energy). The turbine wire also rotates which draws electrons out into the
is connected to a generator. wire and then gets moved into transmission lines.

Hydro-Electric Generation
• Source is a fast moving waterfall, river, or water
stored behind a dam
Water flows through a
pipe called a penstock.

Water from the river

or reservoir flows in
through the intake.
Water that moves through
the penstock is under high
pressure. The force of the
water turns the turbine.

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 Hydro-Electricity
Advantages
• Renewable
• Does not pollute water or air
• Small scale hydro-electric generators
can be built

Disadvantages
• Requires water
• Diverts the flow of water and changes
the ecology of the watershed
• Migration of fish is disrupted The Adam Beck Generating
Station is the largest
• Risk of flooding hydroelectric power station
• Costly to build on the Niagara River. Contains
a total of 26 generators.

Tidal Generation
• Source is the Hydro-Electricity
movement of ocean Advantages
water through tides • Renewable
• Tides occur twice daily • Does not pollute water or air
at specific times
Disadvantages
• Can only be built near coastlines
• Electricity is intermittent; on for 5 hours
and off for 7 hours

The tide cycles do not always match consumption

patterns, you don’t always have electricity when you
need it.

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Thermal Generation
Using steam is the most prefered bevause steam is a gas and gases have the most kinetic energy

• Source is the steam from heating water

• Water can be heated through multiple
methods:
• Non-renewable sources: coal, natural
gas, oil, radioactive materials
• Renewable sources: biomass,
geothermal

• Fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and

oil can be burned to produce significant
amounts of energy to heat water
• Radioactive materials like uranium
undergo nuclear fission and release
large amounts of energy
• Biomass is any biological material
including plants and animals that can
be burned to produce energy; the
decay of biomass releases methane
gas that can also be burned
• Geothermal uses thermal energy
within the Earth’s crust to produce
steam

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 Fossil Fuels
Advantages Disadvantages
• Produce large amounts of energy • Non-renewable
• Relatively inexpensive • Pollutes water and atmosphere
• Easy to transport • Releases carbon emissions that
contributes to the greenhouse effect
• Requires mining, drilling, and refining
which destroys the surrounding habitat

Nuclear Energy
Advantages Disadvantages
• Produces large amounts of energy • Non-renewable
• Cleaner than fossil fuels • Uranium ore must be mined, which
destroys the surrounding habitat
• Causes thermal pollution of water
bodies
• Produces radioactive waste
• Expensive to build nuclear power plants
• Risk of nuclear disasters
Left: Radioactive waste is stored underwater at
the reactor site for 10 years. It is then
transferred into dry storage within concrete
containers for another 60 years.

Right: Canada has five active nuclear power

plants. Three of them are located in Ontario in
Tiverton, Bowmanville, and Pickering.

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 Biomass Energy
Advantages Disadvantages
• Recycles leftover biomass for fuel • Requires land to grow crops for biomass
• Renewable • Burning methane gas contributes to
carbon emissions
• Crops require water, fertilizers, and
pesticides
• Carbon emissions are only partially
offset by the crops undergoing
photosynthesis

Geothermal Energy
Advantages Disadvantages
• Renewable • Geothermal generating stations can only
• Clean be built in certain places where the
temperature in the ground is hot
enough to produce steam

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 Wind Generation
Wind Energy
• Source is wind Advantages
• A wind turbine can • Renewable and clean
• Installation and maintenance is
generate enough relatively inexpensive
electricity for 250 • Can be installed anywhere
Canadian homes
• Wind farms connected Disadvantages
to an electrical grid can • Needs a wind speed of at least 18 km/h
• Intermittent
produce a significant • Noisy
amount of electricity • Dangerous to birds

Different patches of colours represent different wind farms. Large wind farms can
consist of over 100 wind turbines that generate 200 MW of electricity.

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 Solar Energy
• Source is light
• The only form of energy
production that does not
require the turning of a turbine
• Photovoltaic cell is a device
that converts light energy
directly into electrical energy
• Sunlight shining on the surface
creates a flow of electrons

Solar Energy
Advantages Disadvantages
• Renewable • Production and disposal of the solar
• Clean panels causes pollution
• Can be installed on any flat surface • Only 30% efficient at converting sunlight
• Solar farms can produce a large amount into electricity
of electricity • Needs several hours of sunlight to
produce a significant amount of
electricity

Solar farm in
New York

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Ontario’s Electricity Sources
Solar Gas and
Wind 1% Biomass
8% 8%
• In 2019, 92% of electricity in
Ontario was produced from
zero-carbon sources
• Most electrical generating Hydro
Nuclear
stations are located in 24%
59%
southern Ontario

Canada Energy Regulator, 2019.

Electrical Power
• Electrical power is the rate at which electrical
energy is produced or used; unit is the watt (W)
• 1 W = 1 joule/second

Energy (J)
Power =
time (s)
The incandescent bulb uses more electrical energy than the
LED bulb to produce the same amount of light

Majority of the energy in incandescent lightbulbs is converted

into thermal energy

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 Checkpoint
A 15 W and a 100W lightbulb are both turned on for
3 hours. How much energy does each lightbulb
produce?

• Electrical energy is often

measured in watt∙hour (W∙h) Difference between kW and kW∙h?
or kilowatt∙hour (kW∙h)
Energy = Power x Time
3600 joules = 1 W∙h 1J/sec x 3600sec
3 600 000 joules = 1 kW∙h

• kilowatt∙hour measures
electrical energy usage; it kW is the power
required for the
kW∙h is energy used
each hour the
represents the use of 1 kW appliance to work. appliance is on.
of power for one hour

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 Checkpoint
The two refrigerators below are the same size.
Which appliance is better at conserving energy?

OR

Efficiency
• Efficiency is the measure of how much useful
energy an electrical device produces compared
with the amount of energy that was supplied to
the device

Energy input Energy output Eout

450 J 400 J % efficiency = ×100%
Ein

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 Checkpoint
A fluorescent lightbulb uses 95J of electrical energy
to produce 30J of light. Calculate its percent
efficiency.

Cost of Electricity
• In Ontario, for residential and small businesses,
there are different types of prices:
Time of Use (TOU) – depends Tiered – purchase a certain
on when you use electricity amount of electricity per month
but once the limit is exceeded,
a higher price applies

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Time of Use (TOU) Rates
TOU Periods Winter (Nov 1 – Apr 30) Summer (May 1 – Oct 31) Price ($/kW∙h)
Weekdays 7pm-7am Weekdays 7pm-7am
Off-Peak $0.082
Weekends and holidays Weekends and holidays
Weekdays 7am-11am
Mid-Peak Weekdays 11am-5pm $0.113
Weekdays 5pm-7pm
Weekdays 7am-11am
On-Peak Weekdays 11am-5pm $0.170
Weekdays 5pm-7pm

Tiered Rates
Tier Levels Winter (Nov 1 – Apr 30) Summer (May 1 – Oct 31) Price ($/kW∙h)
Residential – first 1000 kW∙h/month Residential – first 600 kW∙h/month
Tier 1 $0.098
Small business – first 750 kW∙h/month Small business – first 750 kW∙h/month

Residential – above 1000 kW∙h/month Residential – above 600 kW∙h/month

Tier 2 $0.115
Small business – above 750 kW∙h/month Small business – above 750 kW∙h/month

Checkpoint
Cost to operate = (Power used) x (Time) x (Cost of electricity)
Always in KW Hours

Your laptop uses a 75W adapter when it is plugged

in. Assume electricity costs $0.098/kW∙h. Calculate
how much it would cost to operate your laptop for 1
year for 24 hours per day.
Always remember to
75w= 0.075kw convert units.
(365x24)= total 3 of hours
Cost to operate = 0.075(365x24)(0.098)
=$64.39

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 Checkpoint
Cost to operate = (Power used) x (Time) x (Cost of electricity)

Your hair dryer uses a 1500W adapter when it is

plugged in. Assume electricity costs $0.170/kW∙h.
Calculate how much it would cost to operate your
hair dryer for 6 minutes per day for 3 days.

What I Learned Today:

❑ Turbines and Generators
❑ Advantages and Disadvantages of
Different Energy Sources
❑ Power
❑ Percent Efficiency
❑ Kilowatt-hour
❑ Cost of Electricity
Due next class: Class 9 Homework

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