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1: Introduction

  • Page ID
    18942
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    • 1.1: What is Direct Energy Conversion?
      This page explains energy conversion devices that change forms of energy, distinguishing between direct conversions, such as solar cells, and indirect ones that involve multiple processes, like solar power plants. It emphasizes the significance of these devices across various engineering fields, especially electrical engineering, and their influence on areas like instrumentation and power distribution.
    • 1.2: Preview of Topics
      This page presents an overview of energy conversion technologies, categorizing them into processes and a theoretical framework. It emphasizes direct energy conversion devices like piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and thermoelectric systems, along with batteries and fuel cells, while intentionally excluding electromagnetically powered devices. The textbook aims at a general audience, promoting fundamental physics and essential terminology across disciplines.
    • 1.3: Conservation of Energy
      This page discusses the principle of energy conservation, which asserts that energy can be transformed but not created or destroyed. It highlights the concept of efficiency—defined as the ratio of useful power output to total power input—indicating the performance of energy conversion devices, which are seldom 100% efficient. The importance of consistent measurement of input and output powers for accurate efficiency comparisons is also emphasized.
    • 1.4: Measures of Power and Energy
      This page covers the representation of scientific quantities using different symbols and fonts, focusing on power (\(P\)) and energy (\(E\)). It highlights their relationship, provides energy and power conversion factors, and discusses units used across industries, such as joules and watts. Common conversions, particularly between calories and joules, are clarified, and resources for unit conversion are noted in Appendix A.
    • 1.5: Properties of Materials
      This page explores the macroscopic and microscopic properties of materials essential for energy conversion devices, classifying them into states and types, such as solids being crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous. It examines isotropy and anisotropy, and the behavior of conductors, insulators, and semiconductors under voltage.
    • 1.6: Electromagnetic Waves
      This page covers Maxwell's equations, highlighting their role in electromagnetic field analysis, and distinguishing between DC and AC in circuits. It presents key vector fields: \(\overrightarrow{E}\), \(\overrightarrow{D}\), \(\overrightarrow{H}\), and \(\overrightarrow{B}\), and discusses electromagnetic wave propagation in conductors vs. insulators.
    • 1.7: Problems
      This page discusses calculations of power, energy, and electron configurations. It includes converting horsepower to watts for a Ford Focus, exploring the energy content of gasoline in joules, and comparing the specific energy of an Oreo cookie to TNT. Additionally, it features problems on the electron configuration of indium and Cl⁻ ions, identifying elements based on their configurations and valence electrons.


    This page titled 1: Introduction is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Andrea M. Mitofsky via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.