I have tried a lot of activities over the years to relate the energy in physics class to the energy in homes. Here is this years attempt. What do you think? What do you do? Much credit goes to the two references, which both are go to sites when I am making new experiences. I give this type of assignment in a forum so that students can see every idea that others came up with.
Read this discussion, which will be a lot of review and then study the example problems at the bottom. Use the information you learned there to answer one of the following questions. There needs to be a mathematical component to your analysis. I have a device you may borrow to measure the watts of anything that plugs into a wall, but most stuff is labeled so you should not need it. For example I just walked over to my microwave, looked at its model number and typed, "GE JES1036PWH03 watts" into Google to find out 1100 watts.
Energy is interchangeable. So what is the relationship between kilowatt hours on an bill and the Joules we measure in class?
- Does it cost more to bake a potato in your home's microwave or conventional (the one under the stove) oven?
- What time of the day does your family use the most amount of electrical energy? Explain why, using appliances and the wattages to prove your point.
- How much difference in cost is there between playing your favorite video game for two hours or your favorite way to watch a two-hour movie?
- What costs more to operate during the eight hours you sleep, your alarm clock or a night light? How much does each cost?
- How long can you charge your iPod or cellphone for a dollar?
References