A major department store has just installed three new escalators. Each one is designed to carry 120 people, each of average mass 70kg. per min to a floor 10.0m higher. The engine which drives these escalators is 65% energy efficient. What?

What power must the engine develop?????

1 Answer
Jun 7, 2018

"P"("input")=2.1 xx 10^(4) color(white)(l) "W"

Explanation:

From the definition of average power

"Power" = "Work" / "Time"

Meaning that the energy input to the escalator in one minute (60 color(white)(l) "seconds") divided by time shall give its average power input.

The effective work the escalator does in a one-minute interval is equal to the passengers' gain in gravitational potential energy in that amount of time. Taking the gravitational field strength g=9.8 color(white)(l) "N" * "kg"^(-1)

W("output") = Delta "PE" = m*g* Delta h
color(white)(W_"output" = Delta "PE" ) = (120*70 color(white)(l))color(red)(cancel(color(black)("kg")))*9.8 color(white)(l)"N"*color(red)(cancel(color(black)("kg"^(-1)))) cdot 10.0 color(white)(l)"m"
color(white)(W_"output" = Delta "PE" ) = 8.2 xx 10^(5) color(white)(l)"N"*"m"
color(white)(W_"output" = Delta "PE" ) = 8.2 xx 10^(5) color(white)(l)"J"

The escalator has an efficiency of 65 %, meaning that it converts only 65% of the energy input into the desired form of work. That is:

("W"("output"))/("W"("input"))=65%
"W"("input")=("W"("output") )/(0.65)=1.3 xx 10^(6) color(white)(l) "J"

Note that 1 color(white)(l)"Watt"=(1 color(white)(l) "Joule")/(1 color(white)(l)"second")

"P"("input")=("W"("input"))/(t)=(1.3 xx 10^(6) color(white)(l) "J")/(60 color(white)(l) "s")=2.1 xx 10^(4) color(white)(l)"W"