Energy Resources Project. There are many power stations of all types in UK. About three-quarters of the electricity generated in the UK come from burning of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas

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Energy Resources Project

Energy is the capacity to do work. An object may have energy because it is moving or because of its position. Energy is defined as:  "the ability to do work." Energy is an important part of our daily lives. It can be transformed into another sort of energy but it cannot be created and it cannot be destroyed. Energy has always existed in one form or another.

Most of our energy comes directly or indirectly from the sun.

Electricity is a form of energy and the flow of electrons which was discovered over 100 years ago. Electricity is a basic part of nature and it is one of our most widely used forms of energy. We use electricity every day and it is part of our daily life, without electricity we cannot live. We all need electricity; it does a lot of work for us. We use it many times each day. It lights our homes, warms and cools our rooms, and helps us keep them clean. It runs our TVs, DVD players, video games and computers.

How electricity is generated in UK.

There are many power stations of all types in UK. About three-quarters of the electricity generated in the UK come from burning of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. A very small proportion is produced from oil 1% and 18% of the electricity comes from nuclear power. The diagram below shows you how coal is burned to generate electricity.

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Big stone of Coal

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  1. Big pieces of coal passes through mill and get smashed into smaller pieces which allow the coal to burn more quickly.
  2. Coal gets burned and releases its chemical energy.  We burn fuels to make water turn to steam.
  3. The steam turn turbines
  4. The turbines turn large generator and it produce electrical energy.
  5. Before entering the national grid, the electrical energy passes through a transformer, which increases its voltage and decrease the current. These changes reduce the energy losses in the cable and wires.
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  1. Before the electrical energy is carried to our homes through the national grid, the electrical energy passes through another transformer which decreases its voltage and increases its current.  

Here is a sankey diagrams to show the efficiency of energy being transferred to other form of    energy.  

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Burning 100 joules of energy in fuel gives you out only 35 joules and 65 joules of energy gets loss during the process. The amount of energy loss is more than the amount of electrical energy ...

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