Department of Physics

Faculty of Science & Mathematics

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

INTERMEDIATE REPORT
SFU 1023 BASIC PHYSICS 2

CHAPTER 1 : HEAT

Title:
A POWER STATION AS HEAT ENGINE

NAME NAZREEN NASRULLAH BIN MOHAMAD

MATRIC NUMBER E20182023012
GROUP A
LECTURER’S NAME DR. RAZAK ABD SAMAD YAHYA
Introduction
A power station is an example of a heat engine. Conventional power stations
typically have a circuit in which water is pumped around. Heat coming from a
combustion or nuclear reaction is fed into the circuit in a boiler, where the
medium is vaporised, i.e. liquid water is turned into high-pressure steam. The
pressurised steam drives a turbine, producing work, which can be used to drive
a generator producing electricity. Microscopically, the turbine selects the
velocity components of the steam atoms which happen to point towards the
turbine blades. This is the point at which ordered energy -work- is taken from
the system. The turbine effectively acts as a filter for velocity vectors.

After the turbine, the pressure of the steam will have reduced, but it cannot be
fed back into the boiler as it would short-circuit the cycle, effectively reducing
the pressure on the upstream side of the turbine. To avoid this, the gas is fed
through a condenser, a section of pipe with diathermal walls where heat can
pass through to the surroundings (e.g. through a cooling tower or nearby river).
Here the gas is transformed back into a liquid which is then pumped back into
the boiler to complete the cycle.
Title:

A power station as heat engine

Purpose:

The purpose of the experiment is to study the conversion of heat energy into
electricity.

Hypothesis:
Temperature will effect the produces the amount of electricity

Material and apparatus:

Steam engine, dynamo, belting, wire, glass tube, rubber tube, round base flask,
rubber cork, voltmeter, Bunsen burner, retort stand, measuring cylinder, water.

Variable
manipulated = different temperature (⸰C)
responding = high temperature produce more electricity
constant = the amount of water, V (mL)

Procedure:
1. Placed the round base flask on the retort that fill with 100ml of water.
2. Put the rubber cork on the nozzle
3. attach the glass tube to the rubber cork. then connect each glass tube
using a rubber tube
4. Connect the tube to the steam engine.
5. Connect wire to voltmeter and dynamo.
6. Connect belting to dynamo and steam engine
7. Record the voltmeter reading at 70⸰C, 80⸰C, 90⸰C and 100⸰C
Results
Temperature (⸰C) Voltmeter (V)
70
80
90
100

Voltmeter (V) vs Temperature

Volmeter (V)

Temperature ( ⸰C)
Conclusion:
The conclusion is that through this experiment we can generate electricity
through heat energy.

Questions
1. Why don't we use the temperature below 70⸰C ?
2. Does the size of the round base flask affect the voltmeter reading ?