IB Physics HL A.3.14 Fuel Energy Density Question Bank

Practise HL fuel-energy-density calculations for rockets, power plants, vehicle range and fuel comparisons in exam questions.

Exam points

Apply fuel energy density with efficiency and power to estimate volume, mass, travel distance or heating.
Compare energy-density ratios for fuels such as coal, gasoline and uranium, checking mass and volume units.
Use energy density to evaluate rocket fuel, power-plant demand and long-term system energy requirements.

[Maximum number: 2]

At the end of the 30-day period, rockets are fired to bring the ISS back to its initial height. The energy density of liquid hydrogen rocket fuel is $8.5 \times 10^{3} \mathrm{MJ} \mathrm{m}^{-3}$ .

Estimate the volume of fuel needed.

$\begin{aligned} V=\frac{E}{E \text { density }} V=\mu \frac{4.5 \times 10^{9}}{8.5 \times 10^{9}}=>0.53 \mathrm{~m}^{3} \end{aligned}$

Award [2] if $0.53 \ll \mathrm{~m}^{3} \gg$ is seen as the
answer without working

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A.3.14—Fuel energy density question 1