An electrical power plant manages to send 88% of the heat produced in the burning of fossil fuel into the water-to-steam conversion.Of the heat carried by the steam,40% is converted to the mechanical energy of the spinning turbine.Which of the following choices best describes the overall efficiency of the heat-to-work conversion in the plant (as a percentage)?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The overall efficiency is the product of the efficiencies at each stage: 0.88 (heat to steam) * 0.40 (steam to mechanical energy) = 0.352, which is 35.2%, less than 40%.

An Electrical Power Plant Manages to Send 88% of the Heat