Answer:
When coal is used to produce electricity , the heat energy is transformed into mechanical energy .
Step-by-step explanation:
Coal is one of the United States' most affordable and largest domestically produced energy sources. It is used to generate a significant quantity of our electricity, about 37%. Historically, producing power from coal has been correlated with a wide range of environmental impacts.
Water is converted into steam at a coal-fired steam plant, much like a nuclear plant, which in turn powers turbine generators to generate electricity. Here is how it operates in the process.
- Heat is produced -: It is pulverized to the fineness of talcum powder until the coal is burnt. It is then combined with hot air and blown into the boiler's firebox. The coal / air mixture provides the most full combustion and optimum heat necessary for suspension burning.
- Water transforms to vapor -: The heat turns highly purified water, pumped through pipes inside the boiler, into steam. The steam is piped to the turbine, reaching temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and pressures of up to 3,500 pounds per square inch.
- The Engine Transforms Steam -: The turbine shaft is rotated by the immense stress of the steam pressing against a pair of giant blades. The turbine shaft is attached to the generator shaft, where magnets spin to generate electricity within wire coils.
- Steam switches back to water -: The steam is drawn into a large chamber in the basement of the power plant after doing its job in the turbine. Millions of gallons of cool water from a nearby source (such as a river or lake) are pumped through a network of tubes that pass through the condenser in this significant stage. In the tubes, the cool water turns the steam back into water that can be used in the plant over and over again.
Without any pollution, the cooling water is returned to its source and the steam water is returned to the boiler to repeat the cycle.
Hence, the heat energy is transformed to the mechanical energy ,when coal is used to produce electricity.