All of our everyday activities, whether driving to school, doing the washing-up, or going for a walk, have a cost. The cost we...

Physics Narrative 11-14

Let's start with thinking about the energy costs of keeping a human alive and functioning for one whole day. The average daily...

Physics Narrative 11-14

Another everyday concern is the energy balance in our homes. In Northern Europe, mostly keeping the house warm enough in...

Physics Narrative 11-14

Travelling a kilometre by different means leads to different energy costs.

Physics Narrative 11-14

Globally the energy available to each individual also determines what people can or cannot do. The life-chances of people in...

Physics Narrative 11-14

The standard unit for energy is the joule, but not all energies are quoted in joules. There is therefore a very real chance...

Physics Narrative 11-14

Energy is quantitative in essence: if you are not using the idea of energy to make quantitative comparisons, then you're...

Physics Narrative 11-14

Fuels are useful chemicals that we can burn to get things done. The fuel might be a can of petrol, a chocolate snack bar, or a...

Physics Narrative 11-14

An important point to bear in mind here is that not all jobs require a fuel to get them done.

Physics Narrative 11-14

You can describe the ability of a fuel, such as petrol, to get a job done by saying that it has an energy store associated...

Physics Narrative 11-14

It is important to recognise from the very outset that this description of the action of fuels, in terms of energy and energy...

Physics Narrative 11-14

So far we have concentrated on combining chemicals to get jobs done. However burning fuels with oxygen is not the only way to...

Physics Narrative 11-14