P1 Question Essay

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P1 POSSIBLE 6 MARKS QUESTIONS 1. A vacuum flask is designed to reduce the rate of energy transfer by heating process. Describe how the design of a vacuum flask keeps the liquid inside hot? • The plastic cap of the vacuum flask is a good insulator, so it reduces the heat transfer by conduction. It stops convection currents formed at the top of the flask thereby stopping convection. It also stops heat transfer by evaporation as the particles evaporating from the liquid surface cannot escape into the atmosphere (In case it is not a plastic cap, you have to skip the first point mentioned about conduction) • The glass surface inside reduces conduction as glass is a poor conductor. • Vacuum present between the walls of the container stop conduction and convection, as both these type of heat transfer need particles or a medium • Silver surfaces are good reflectors of heat energy. So they reflect the heat back into the hot liquid. This reduces the energy transfer by radiation. 2. A car engine that overheats can be damaged or even catch fire. Therefore a cooling system transfers energy from the engine to a radiator. The energy in the radiator is transferred to the air. Explain the factors that affect the rate of energy transfer in the engine and radiator. • The rate of energy transfer depends on the temperature difference between the system and the surroundings • Bigger the temperature differences between the radiator and the air, faster the rate of energy transfer. • Radiator contains water which has a very high specific heat capacity. So it can absorb a large amount of heat from the engine • Both the radiator and engines are made of metal which makes both of them good conductors of heat. • The shape of the radiator is designed to have a large surface area. It is fins to increase the surface area. • More the
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