You are an engineer in an electric-generation station. You know that the flames in the boiler reach a temperature of 1200 K and that cooling water at 300 K is available from a nearby river. What is the maximum efficiency your plant will ever achieve?

The maximum efficiency the plant will ever achieve is 75%

Explanation:

From the question given, we recall the following:

Th flames in the boiler reaches a temperature of = 1200K

the cooling water is = 300K

The maximum efficiency the plant will achieve is defined as:

Let nmax = 1 - Tmin / Tmax

Where,

Tmin = Minimum Temperature in plants

Tmax = Maximum Temperature in plants

The temperature of the cooling water = Tmin = 300K

The temperature of the flames in boiler = Tmax = 1200k=K

The maximum efficiency becomes:

nmax = 1 - Tmin / Tmax

nmax = 1 - 300 / 1200

nmax = 1-1/4 = 0.75

nmax = 75%