Water drops over #49# m high Niagara Falls at the rate of #6.0 * 10^6# kg/s. If all the energy of the falling water could be harnessed by a hydroelectric power plant, what would be the plant's power output?

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Answer 1 · 2015-11-13T01:49:29

#2881.2"MW"#

The potential energy is given by:

#PE=mgh#

In 1 second the potential energy of #6xx10^(6)"kg"# of water is:

#6xx10^(6)xx9.8xx 49=2881.2xx10^(6)"J"#

This means that this amount of energy is being produced every second.

This is what power output refers to. 1 Watt = 1 Joule per second.

So the plant's power output is :

#2881.2xx10^(6)"W"#

or :

#2881.2"MW"#