What is power?

Power is the rate of doing work.

From the definition we can deduce the following equation

Power = Work done /Time taken

The unit of power is the Watt (symbol W) or the Joule/second (J/s)

Example 1

A boy pushes a box and as a result does 120 J of work in 10 s. What is the power developed by the boy?

Power = Work done / time taken

= 120 /10

= 12 W or J/s

There is another definition for power that is often used. It is

Power is the rate of dissipation of energy or the rate of change of energy conversion.

Power = Energy dissipated / Time taken

Example 2

A girl climbs a staircase gaining 500 J of gravitational potential energy in 10 s.

What is the power developed by the girl?

Power = Energy conversion / Time taken

= 500 / 10

= 50 W or J/s

Example 3

During the boiling of some water 4000 J of heat energy is dissipated in the kettle’s heater in a time of 8 s. What is the power of the heater?

Power = Energy dissipated/Time taken

= 4000/8

= 500 W or J/s

It is now time to do some questions. It will give these questions after a few of you have supplied your answers.

1. A trains of mass 50000 kg accelerated form rest and reaches a velocity of 50 ms^-1 in 60 s.

(a) Calculate the kinetic energy gained by the train.

(b) Calculate the power of the train engine.

2. A lamp is rated 80 W. If it is switched on for two hours, how much light energy is dissipated.