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Just think about what things you connect to an outlet.
You can heat the house with an electrical heater, cool it with an air conditioner, move the air around with a fan, power all kinds of electrical lights (like light bulbs, neon lights, LED lamps, etc), cook with a microwave, open your garage door with an electrical motor, use a computer, etc.
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ReneFor short term (utilities out due to storm) you can use a fuel powered generator, or an inverter that will change 12 v DC to 120 AC- but you need batteries for the 12v DC.
For long term, depends on where you are, and the energy sources that are available to you. Thousands of people have installed solar power systems that convert sunlight to electricity, thousands more have wind powered generating systems. However, you will need adequate sunlight or steady winds- and you will still need storage for night/ no winds- unless you sell power back to the utilities, and draw from them when you need power.
A friend has what I consider the ultimate home power system- a mini-- hydroelectric system that powers his homestead. A small dam, a Pelton turbine, and a generator.
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What are 5 conductors and insulators present at your home?
House
How are transformers used every day?
For the electricity at your home and where you work. Electricity goes through several step down transformers between the power plant and your home. The electrical lines on the street in front of homes carry voltages of several thousand volts. The transformer on the pole in front of most homes in the U.S. step the voltage down to a total of 240 volts between three wires, two "hots" and a "neutral". The voltage between the two hots is 240 volts, usually for large appliances.The voltage between one hot and the neutral is 120 Volts used for everything else. There are also transformers in most electronic devices such as T.V.s and computers. These transformers are made to step the voltage down from 120 volts to whatever the operation voltage of the device is. A cell phone charger has both a transformer and a rectifier. The transformer first steps the voltage down from 120 volts to a much lower voltage. Most cell phones now charge at 5 volts so they can be compatible with USB ports on computers, which uses 5 volts. The rectifier (and a filter circuit) then convert the 5 volts AC to 5 volts DC to charge the phone. Another interesting fact: DC voltage cannot pass through a transformer.
How much electricity produced in one power plant?
Nuclear power plants have been build in several sizes. The nuclear reactor to generate electricity was EBR-1, the Experimental Breeder Reactor number 1 in Idaho. On December 20th 1952 it generated enough electricity to power four light bulbs! On June 27 1954 the Obninisk Nuclear Power Station in the USSR became the first nuclear reactor to provide electricity to an electricity grid. It was a 5MW (electric) reactor. In general the larger a reactor the cheaper the electricity it produces, although larger reactors are arguably less safe than smaller ones. The largest nuclear power plant in the world currently is the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. It has seven reactors in the gigawatt range, KK-1 to KK-5, which are boiling water reactors with an rated output of 1.067GW(e) each, and KK-6 and KK-7, advanced boiling water reactors each with rated outputs of 1.315GW(e). However these reactors and their associated fuel fabrication facilities have been plagued with problems including management malfeasance, falsification of data and earthquakes. All reactors are currently offline for inspection. a reactor is the cheaper it can produce electricity though, and recent designs have be in the multi-gigawatt range.
How is the steam used to produce electricity?
A 300 grams of water takes about 90 seconds to boil in a 2 kW kettle, so that is 2000 watts x 90 seconds which is 180,000 Joules of energy. But to convert that water completely into steam requires an extra 300x550x4.2 Joules, which is nearly 700,000 Joules. So converting it to steam takes 4-5 times as much energy as boiling it. That is why it takes a while for a kettle to boil dry.
What three safety rules and precautions in using electricity do you consider very important?
1. make sure that your hands are dry before touching any electrical object that is running. 2. do not overload a circuit 3.no cord should be placed underneath rugs 4. do not put your fingers into an empty socket 5.turn off all electrical appliances when not in use
