Week 1

Household appliance 

(Kettle, 2021)

Broad category: Household

Sub-category: Appliance 

Chemical Product: Electric kettle

The chosen household appliance is an electric kettle, and it makes use of heat transfer concept during the heating. This is done by electricity flowing through the coil where it is converted to heat energy. This heat energy is then transferred to the water molecules through the contact with the metal coil. Upon the contact, the water molecules gain heat and expand hence its density decreases due to increase in volume, causing the warmer water molecules to rise. Similarly, the cooler water molecules have higher density hence sinks. This forms a convection current. Upon boiling, at 100 degrees, the molecules undergo latent heat of vaporization, hence turning into water vapor. 

Electric kettle falls under the category of chemical devices. This is because it can accomplish a particular chemical transformation whereby in this case, it is the change in temperature of the water in a safer and a more convenient way. For a traditional kettle, a heating source is required to boil the water, while the electric kettle convert the electricity to thermal energy. As such, no direct flame is needed hence it is safer for consumers to use. Electric kettle is able to boil water faster. That's because they use an electrically powered element that heats up very quickly.