What Do We Learn in Unit 8?

According to the IB Syllabus, Topic 8 (Energy Production)  is divided into two units:

• 8.1-Energy resources
• 8.2-Thermal energy transfer

Even though this unit only requires 8 hours, which is relatively small compared to other units, it is one of the most units to learn since various kinds of energy production bring tremendous amount of impact to our Earth’s environment. Moreover, this not only matters to scientists, but also to everyone since if we want to make appropriate decisions about the future of our energy provision, we need to have a good understanding of this topic.

Throughout the unit, we will learn:

• Describing the basic features of fossil fuel power stations, nuclear power stations, wind generators, pumped storage hydroelectric systems, and solar power cells
• Describing the differences between photovoltaic cells and solar heating panels
• Solving problems relevant to energy transformations in the context of these generating systems
• Discussing safety issues and risks associated with the production of nuclear power
• Sketching and interpreting Sankey diagrams
• Solving specific energy and energy density problems
• Sketching and interpreting graphs showing the variation of intensity with wavelength for bodies emitting thermal radiation at different temperatures
• Solving problems involving Stefan-Boltzmann and Wien’s laws
• Describing the effects of the Earth’s atmosphere on the mean surface temperature
• Solving albedo, emissivity, solar constant, and the average temperature of the Earth problems