Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Environmental Science > Chapter 15 > Flashcards

Chapter 15 Flashcards

Nonrenewable Energy Sources, Their Impacts, and Energy Conservation

1
Q

Hydraulic fracturing

A

drilling deep into the earth and angling horizontally at the shale formation level

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Shale gas

A

bubbles released from shale fractures after water, sand, and chemicals are pumped in

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Fossil fuels

A

oil, coal, and natural gas, which come from stored chemical energy after plants/organisms die and are buried in sediments under particular conditions (nonrenewable source)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are fossil fuels used for?

A

transportation, manufacturing, heating, cooking, generating electricity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Net energy

A

energy returned - energy invested

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

EROI (energy returned on investment)

A

energy returned/energy invested (higher when extraction is more efficient, lower when resources are depleted/harder to extract)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Coal

A

hard blackish substance from compression of woody organic matter into dense, solid, carbon structure

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Strip mining

A

primary method of extracting surface coal

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Subsurface mining

A

excavates large tunnels undergroung

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Mountaintop removal mining

A

mountaintops are blown away to access coal seams, producing huge amounts of rock/soil erosion (used in the Appalachian Mountains)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Crude oil

A

unrefined oil extracted from the ground

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Natural gas

A

gas consisting mostly of methane (CH4) and other volatile hydrocarbons

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Petroleum

A

oil, oil and natural gas (derived from buried, transformed dead marine plankton)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Exploratory drilling

A

drilling small, deep underwater holes to find oil/gas formations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Oil sands

A

mixture of moist sand and clay containing 1-20% bitumen, formed when crude oil deposits are partially degraded by bacteria

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Bitumen

A

thick and heavy form of petroleum

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Oil shale

A

sedimentary rock filled with organic matter, occurring in areas where deposits are not buried deep enough to form oil

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Shale oil

A

processed from oil shale

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Methane hydrate

A

solid consisting of methane molecules embedded in a crystal lattice of water molecules, found in sediments in the Arctic/ocean floor

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Technologically recoverable portions

A

proportions of fuels that are physically accessible to humans

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Economically recoverable portion

A

portion of fuel that depends on costs of extraction/market prices

22
Q

Proven recoverable reserves

A

proportions of fuel that are technologically and economically recoverable

23
Q

Refining

A

process that separates crude oil molecules by size

24
Q

Reserves-to-production ratio (R/P ratio)

A

total remaining reserves/annual rate of production (gives how long remaining oil will last)

25
Tight oil
oil confined in/near shale, accessed through hydraulic fracturing, increasing reserve levels
26
Peak oil
extraction of petroleum reaches a peak and declines (usually when reserves are halfway depleted)
27
Directional drilling
technology that allows drillers to bore down vertically and curve to drill horizontally, allowing a large radius around drill pads without constructing additional drill pads
28
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking)
pumps chemically treated water under high pressure into layers of rock to crack them
29
Deepwater Horizon
2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that destroyed wildlife and disrupted tourism
30
Clean coal technologies
techniques/equipment/approaches to remove chemical contaminants during electricity generation from coal
31
Gasification
coal is converted to a cleaner synthesis gas (syngas) by reacting it with oxygen/steam at high temperatures
32
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
capturing carbon dioxide emissions, converting to liquid, then sequestering/storing in the ocean/underground
33
Energy efficiency
ability to obtain a given amount of output while using less energy input, resulting from improved technology
34
Energy conservation
practice of reducing wasteful/unnecessary energy use, resulting from behavioral choices
35
Energy intensity
energy use per dollar of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
36
Cogeneration
excess heat produced in energy generation is captured and used to heat nearby workspaces/homes and produce power
37
Rebound effect
gains in energy are offset when people, as a result, engage in more energy-consuming behavior
38
Nuclear power
use of nuclear energy to generate electricity (U.S. has the greatest production, France is most dependent)
39
Nuclear energy
energy that holds protons and neutrons in the nucleus of atoms
40
Nuclear reactors
facilities in nuclear power plants where thermal energy is used for electricity
41
Nuclear fission
splitting apart of atomic nuclei, which drives the release of nuclear energy in nuclear reactors
42
Moderator
usually water/graphite, used to slow down neutrons emitted in fission so they impact other atoms, creating a fission chain reaction
43
Control rods
rods made of a neutron-absorbing substance that are inserted/removed from a reactor to control the rate of reaction
44
Radioactive isotopes
isotopes that emit subatomic particles/high-energy radiation as they decay until becoming stable
45
Three Mile Island
location of accident from human error/mechanical failure that led to draining of water from the reactor vessel, causing a meltdown
46
Meltdown
fuel rods melt and release high amounts of radiation
47
Chernobyl
Ukrainian power plant that exploded in 1986, releasing radioactive debris for 10 days and killing 31 people and sickening thousands
48
Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant in Japan that had its backup generators (which powered control rods/water pumps) flooded after the 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake
49
Electricity
secondary form of energy that can be transferred over long distances/applied to many uses
50
Small modular reactors/SMRs
factory-built reactors that can be used singly or in combination at power plants

Environmental Science (21 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions