Practice question · Put in order
A power plant boils water with coal, spins a turbine, and lights your lamp. Order the energy conversions, and note where the second law takes its cut.
- Chemical energy in coal is released as heat by combustion
- Heat turns water into high-pressure steam (thermal energy)
- The generator converts rotational work into electrical energy
- The second law forces part of the heat out through cooling towers
- Steam expands and does work spinning the turbine
Hints
- Follow the energy: chemical → thermal → mechanical → electrical.
- The mandatory waste-heat step belongs where heat becomes work, no engine converts heat completely.
Show the answer
- Chemical energy in coal is released as heat by combustion
- Heat turns water into high-pressure steam (thermal energy)
- Steam expands and does work spinning the turbine
- The second law forces part of the heat out through cooling towers
- The generator converts rotational work into electrical energy
Why
Every heat engine on Earth follows this chain, and every one pays the second-law toll: heat cannot become work at 100%. The billowing cooling towers are not pollution, they are thermodynamics made visible.
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