GCSE Physics Energy resources questions by topic

Sort these resources into renewable and non-renewable: coal, wind, natural gas, solar, uranium, hydroelectricity.

1. (a)List the renewable resources.[1]
2. (b)List the non-renewable resources.[1]
3. (c)State one resource used mainly for transport.[1]
4. (d)State one resource that never works at night.[1]

A home electric shower is rated at 9.5 kW and is used for 8 minutes.

1. (a)Calculate the energy transferred in kWh.[2]
2. (b)At 28 p per kWh, calculate the cost of one shower.[1]
3. (c)State why showers are expensive to run compared with most appliances.[1]

Complete the sentences about reliability.

1. (a)Fossil-fuel stations can generate when we … them to, so they are described as …[1]
2. (b)Wind turbines only generate when there is enough …[1]
3. (c)Tidal output is … because the tide times are known years in advance.[1]

A house uses 12 kWh of electricity a day.

1. (a)Calculate the yearly electricity use.[2]
2. (b)At 28 p per kWh, calculate the yearly cost.[2]

Compare a coal-fired power station and a wind farm for generating electricity.

1. (a)Give two advantages of the coal station.[2]
2. (b)Give two advantages of the wind farm.[2]
3. (c)State one disadvantage of each.[2]

A village installs a 2 MW wind turbine with an average output of 30% of its maximum.

1. (a)Calculate the energy generated in one year, in MWh (1 year = 8 760 h).[3]
2. (b)A home uses 3 650 kWh a year. Show that the turbine could supply about 1 400 homes.[2]
3. (c)Explain why the village still needs a back-up supply.[2]

A family replaces its old 2 kW electric fire (5 hours an evening) with a 0.5 kW heater that gives the same warmth.

1. (a)Calculate the energy each heater uses per evening.[3]
2. (b)At 28 p per kWh, calculate the saving per evening.[2]
3. (c)State the saving over a 120-day winter.[1]

Explain why the UK’s electricity mix changed between the 1990s and today.

1. (a)Describe the change in the use of coal.[2]
2. (b)Describe the change in the use of renewables.[2]
3. (c)Give two reasons for these changes.[2]

A remote island currently generates electricity with diesel generators. The island council must choose between a tidal barrage, a wind farm with batteries, and doing nothing.

1. (a)Give one advantage and one disadvantage of the tidal barrage.[2]
2. (b)Give one advantage and one disadvantage of the wind farm with batteries.[2]
3. (c)Explain why “doing nothing” is unattractive for the island.[2]
4. (d)Recommend an option and justify your choice.[2]

A student claims: “Because wind is free, wind farms produce the cheapest electricity possible, so the UK should replace every power station with wind.”

1. (a)Identify what the claim gets right.[2]
2. (b)Identify two things the claim ignores.[2]
3. (c)Write a more balanced conclusion about wind’s role in the UK mix.[3]

The table shows four resources and the annual electricity they could supply a region that needs 8 760 GWh a year.

1. (a)Show that no single resource in the table meets the region’s whole need except nuclear.[3]
2. (b)Design a mix of two resources whose annual energies together meet the 8 760 GWh need, and calculate the total.[3]
3. (c)State one limitation of your mix.[2]

Explain the physics chain that lets a fossil-fuel power station, a hydroelectric dam and a wind turbine all generate electricity, and why solar panels are the exception.

1. (a)Describe the shared chain for the three turbine-based resources.[3]
2. (b)Explain how solar panels differ.[2]
3. (c)Name the energy store that empties in each of the three turbine cases.[2]