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Learning objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Calculate power by calculating changes in energy over time.
  • Examine power consumption and calculations of the cost of energy consumed.

What is power?

Power —the word conjures up many images: a professional football player muscling aside his opponent, a dragster roaring away from the starting line, a volcano blowing its lava into the atmosphere, or a rocket blasting off, as in [link] .

A space shuttle rocket is being launched and is burning propellant.
This powerful rocket on the Space Shuttle Endeavor did work and consumed energy at a very high rate. (credit: NASA)

These images of power have in common the rapid performance of work, consistent with the scientific definition of power    ( P size 12{P} {} ) as the rate at which work is done.

Power

Power is the rate at which work is done.

P = W t size 12{P= { {W} over {t} } } {}

The SI unit for power is the watt    ( W size 12{W} {} ), where 1 watt equals 1 joule/second ( 1 W = 1 J/s ) . size 12{ \( 1" W"=1" J/s" \) "." } {}

Because work is energy transfer, power is also the rate at which energy is expended. A 60-W light bulb, for example, expends 60 J of energy per second. Great power means a large amount of work or energy developed in a short time. For example, when a powerful car accelerates rapidly, it does a large amount of work and consumes a large amount of fuel in a short time.

Calculating power from energy

Calculating the power to climb stairs

What is the power output for a 60.0-kg woman who runs up a 3.00 m high flight of stairs in 3.50 s, starting from rest but having a final speed of 2.00 m/s? (See [link] .)

A woman is standing before a set of stairs with her weight shown by a vector w pointing vertically downward, which is equal to m times g. The normal force N acting on the woman is shown by a vector pointing vertically upward, which is equal to negative w. Her velocity at this point is v sub 0 equal to zero. She runs and reaches the top of the stairs at a height h with velocity v sub f. Now she possesses potential energy as well as kinetic energy labeled as K E plus P E sub g.
When this woman runs upstairs starting from rest, she converts the chemical energy originally from food into kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy. Her power output depends on how fast she does this.

Strategy and Concept

The work going into mechanical energy is W = KE + PE size 12{W"= KE + PE"} {} . At the bottom of the stairs, we take both KE size 12{"KE"} {} and PE g as initially zero; thus, W = KE f + PE g = 1 2 mv f 2 + mgh size 12{W="KE" rSub { size 8{f} } +"PE" rSub { size 8{g} } = { { size 8{1} } over { size 8{2} } } ital "mv" rSub { size 8{f} rSup { size 8{2} } } + ital "mgh"} {} , where h size 12{h} {} is the vertical height of the stairs. Because all terms are given, we can calculate W size 12{W} {} and then divide it by time to get power.

Solution

Substituting the expression for W size 12{W} {} into the definition of power given in the previous equation, P = W / t size 12{P= {W} slash {t} } {} yields

P = W t = 1 2 mv f 2 + mgh t . size 12{P= { {W} over {t} } = { { { {1} over {2} } ital "mv" rSub { size 8{f} rSup { size 8{2} } } + ital "mgh"} over {t} } "." } {}

Entering known values yields

P = 0.5 60.0 kg 2.00 m/s 2 + 60.0 kg 9.80 m/s 2 3.00 m 3.50 s = 120 J + 1764 J 3.50 s = 538 W. alignl { stack { size 12{P= { {0 "." 5 left ("60" "." 0" kg" right ) left (2 "." "00"" m/s" right ) rSup { size 8{2} } + left ("60" "." 0" kg" right ) left (9 "." "80"" m/s" rSup { size 8{2} } right ) left (3 "." "00"" m" right )} over {3 "." "50"" s"} } } {} #" "= { {"120 J "+"1764 J"} over {3 "." "50"" s"} } {} # " "="538 W" {}} } {}

Discussion

The woman does 1764 J of work to move up the stairs compared with only 120 J to increase her kinetic energy; thus, most of her power output is required for climbing rather than accelerating.

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It is impressive that this woman’s useful power output is slightly less than 1 horsepower     ( 1 hp = 746 W ) size 12{ \( 1" hp"="746"" W" \) } {} ! People can generate more than a horsepower with their leg muscles for short periods of time by rapidly converting available blood sugar and oxygen into work output. (A horse can put out 1 hp for hours on end.) Once oxygen is depleted, power output decreases and the person begins to breathe rapidly to obtain oxygen to metabolize more food—this is known as the aerobic stage of exercise. If the woman climbed the stairs slowly, then her power output would be much less, although the amount of work done would be the same.

Questions & Answers

A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
Aislinn Reply
cm
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what is physics
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A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Jude Reply
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
David Reply
what is viscosity?
David
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what is chemistry
Youesf Reply
what is inorganic
emma
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
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A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
Krampah Reply
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
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you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
Samuel Reply
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Joseph Reply
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what's motion
Maurice Reply
what are the types of wave
Maurice
answer
Magreth
progressive wave
Magreth
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Muhammad Reply
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
hi
Mujahid
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
yasuo Reply
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
Reofrir Reply
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Source:  OpenStax, College physics for ap® courses. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at https://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11844/1.14
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