what makes the battery drain fast?

I was just wondering if using wireless make the battery drain really fast?

I just bought my Macbook about a week ago and today when I tried to use it off the battery, I noticed that the battery % went from 97% to 93% in just a few minutes. (it seemed to me that every 1-2 min, it decreased by 1%).

I don't understand much about batteries so I was wondering if this is normal?

The entire time I was just working on some document files like PDF so I wasn't expecting the battery to drain this quickly.

Thanks for your help!

Things that drain on the battery (besides any apps that are running) in a notebook:

+ AirPort Card
+ Bluetooth
+ iSight (if you have a compatible chat program open)
+ Screen brightness

If you want to extend your battery usage, turn off Bluetooth, and dim the screen brightness if you are using the wireless connection. If you aren't actively using the connection, then turn off the AirPort Card as well. If you aren't doing a video chat, then disable the iSight as well.

a bright screen, wireless, bluetooth will all help the battery die faster.