Energy resources
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The teaching part (1 min) is free to watch. A free account opens the whole lecture: 2 worked examples, 7 practice questions, 2 real past-paper questions with the answers explained, the mistakes that lose marks, the full-marks tip, a one-card summary and a quick quiz.
What this lecture covers
- Where does our electricity come from?
- Two kinds of resource
- Sort them out
Read the transcript of the teaching part
Last time
Before we start: last time, in Energy stores, conservation and work done, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.
Where does our electricity come from?
Switch on a light. Somewhere, a power station is transferring energy from a store to the electrical energy you are using. The store can be a fuel that runs out, or a source that is always renewed. Knowing the difference is the heart of this topic.
Two kinds of resource
A non-renewable resource is used up faster than it forms, so it will run out. Coal, oil and natural gas are fossil fuels. Nuclear fuel, such as uranium, is also non-renewable. A renewable resource is replaced as fast as we use it, so it does not run out. Solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, tidal, wave and biofuel are all renewable.
Sort them out
On the left, the non-renewable resources: coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear fuel. On the right, the renewable ones: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, tidal, waves and biofuel. Learn both lists, because questions ask you to sort them.
How often it comes up
How often Cambridge has asked each part, counted by ExamYard from every past paper in its question bank: Energy resources and generating electricity · Energy resources.
The whole chapter: Energy, Work and Power, Energy, Work and Power.
Chapter 1.7: Energy, work and power
- Energy stores, conservation and work done 5 min
- Gravitational potential and kinetic energy 6 min
- Power and efficiency 6 min
- Energy resources 7 min
Also for O Level Physics 5054
Which topics come up most in O Level Physics 5054 past papers, counted from every paper since 2004.