AQA · GCSE · Physics
Course version: 8463 · Version from Sept 2016
Everyday electrical appliances are designed to bring about energy transfers.
Full specification wording
Energy transfers in everyday appliances: Everyday electrical appliances are designed to bring about energy transfers.
An appliance is a designed pathway: it takes energy supplied electrically and shifts it into whichever store the user wants.
Checked against the AQA 8463 specification (opens in a new tab) on .
- Point 1 of 6
- 3 key terms
Study notes
From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.
The idea
An appliance is a designed pathway: it takes energy supplied electrically and shifts it into whichever store the user wants. A kettle moves energy to the thermal store of the water, an electric drill to the kinetic store of the rotating bit, and a lamp transfers it by light and by heating. The source is the chemical store of a battery or the mains supply, and the transfer happens because charge does work as it passes through the device. Almost no appliance transfers everything usefully - the exception is a resistive heater, whose useful store is the thermal store of the room, so it is treated as (near) 100% efficient. In every other appliance some energy is dissipated to the thermal store of the surroundings by resistance in the wires and friction in moving parts. Designers cut those losses, by insulating a kettle or oiling a motor, raising the efficiency but not to 100%.
What earns the marks
- Naming the store the energy is transferred from, such as the chemical store of the battery.
- Naming the useful store it is transferred to, such as a thermal or kinetic store.
- Naming the pathway, electrical work, heating or light.
- Identifying energy dissipated to the thermal store of the surroundings as the wasted share.
Common mistakes and how to put them right
Writing 'electrical energy' as a store instead of naming electrical work as the pathway.
Saying energy is lost rather than dissipated to the surroundings.
Describing an appliance as converting energy into a new type rather than transferring it between stores.
Saying a kettle is 100% efficient because it is a heater, ignoring the energy transferred to the kettle body and the surroundings.
Exam tips
- Name the store at each end and the pathway between them; that structure earns the marks.
- Use 'dissipated to the surroundings' as the standard phrase for wasted energy.
- Match the useful store to the job of the appliance, since the useful output of a kettle is not light.
Try the lesson
The start of the Energy transfers in everyday appliances: Everyday electrical appliances are designed to bring about energy transfers. lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.
Have a go first
Which energy transfer is the main purpose of an electric kettle?
Listen
An appliance is a designed pathway: it takes energy supplied electrically and shifts it into whichever store the user wants. A kettle moves energy to the thermal store of the water, an electric drill to the kinetic store of the rotating bit, and a lamp transfers it by light and by heating. The source is the chemical store of a battery or the mains supply, and the transfer happens because charge does work as it passes through the device. Almost no appliance transfers everything usefully - the exception is a resistive heater, whose useful store is the thermal store of the room, so it is treated as (near) 100% efficient. In every other appliance some energy is dissipated to the thermal store of the surroundings by resistance in the wires and friction in moving parts. Designers cut those losses, by insulating a kettle or oiling a motor, raising the efficiency but not to 100%. A strong answer earns marks for these points. naming the store the energy is transferred from, such as the chemical store of the battery. naming the useful store it is transferred to, such as a thermal or kinetic store. naming the pathway, electrical work, heating or light. identifying energy dissipated to the thermal store of the surroundings as the wasted share. Exam tip: Name the store at each end and the pathway between them; that structure earns the marks.
Key words
Say what each word means before you turn the card.
energy stores
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
energy pathways
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
dissipation
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
See every definition
- energy stores
- The places energy is transferred from and to, such as the chemical store of the battery or a thermal or kinetic store.
- energy pathways
- The way energy moves between stores, such as electrical work, heating or light.
- dissipation
- Energy transferred to the thermal store of the surroundings as the wasted share, by resistance in the wires and friction in moving parts.
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