Question

A power plant has 4 tons of coal. A ton of coal produces 2460 kilowatt hours of electricity. Is this enough to power 9 light bulbs for a year? Explain

Answer 1

Answer: Yes

Explanation:

We will assume that each bulb is of 100 kW (kilowatt).

We will calculate how much energy in kilowatt-hours the light bulb will use per year in kilowatts, by the number of hours in a year.

We have, 100 kW = 0.1 kW so the energy consumed in one year is,

0.1 \times 8760=876.0\text {kWh} Since there are 8760 hours in one year. It is given that there are 9 bulbs so we need to have, 876 \times 9 = 7884 \text {kWh}

It is given that 1 ton of coal produces 2460 kWh, so 4 tons of coal will produce, 4\times 2460= 9840 \text {kWh}

We can observe that 4 tons of coal is producing 9840 kWh which is mroe than 7884 kWh. So, yes, 4 tons of coal can produce enough power to light 9 bulbs for a year