Chapter 17 and 18 Flashcards
Life as we know it would be very different without the fuels or products formed from _______________ and _______________ that lived alongside the dinosaurs.
plants
animals
Most of the energy we use comes from a group of natural resources called _______________ _______________ .
fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are the remains of _______________ _______________ that changed into coal, oil, or natural gas.
ancient organisms
What are two main problems with fossil fuels?
A) __________________________________________
B) __________________________________________
Supply of fossil fuels is limited
Obtaining and using them causes environmental problems
Fuels are used for five main purposes: for _______________ , _______________ , _______________ , _______________ , and _______________ buildings, and _______________ _______________ to run machines and appliances.
cooking transportation manufacturing heating cooling generating electricity
The suitability of a fuel for each application depends on the fuel’s _______________ _______________ , _______________ , _______________ , and _______________ , and the byproducts of the fuel’s use.
energy content
cost
availability
safety
The energy in fuels is often converted into _______________ energy in order to power machines, because electricity is more convenient to use.
electrical
Electricity can be transported quickly across great distances, such as an entire state, or across tiny distances, such as inside a _______________ chip.
computer
Two disadvantages of electricity are that it is _______________ to _______________ and other energy sources have to be used to _______________ it.
difficult
store
generate
An electric generator is a machine that converts _______________ energy, or motion, into _______________ energy.
mechanical
electrical
_______________ produce electrical energy by moving an electrically conductive material within a magnetic field. Most commercial electric generators convert the movement of a _______________ into electrical energy. A turbine is a wheel that changes the force of a moving gas or liquid into energy that can do work. In most power plants, _______________ is boiled to produce the steam that turns the turbine.
Generators
turbine
water
Energy product requires _______________ to produce.
energy
People in _______________ societies use much more energy than people in _______________ countries do. However, energy use in some developing countries is growing rapidly.
developed
developing
A person in Canada or the United States uses more than _______________ as much energy as a person in Japan or Switzerland does.
twice
The United States uses more energy per person than any other country in the world except _______________ and the _______________ _______________ _______________ .
Canada
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The United States uses more than _______________ percent of its energy resources to transport goods and people, mainly by trucks and personal vehicles.
25
In contrast, Japan and Switzerland have _______________ _______________ _______________ and they are relatively small, compact countries.
extensive rail systems
Residents of the United States and Canada enjoy some of the _______________ gasoline taxes in the world. There is little incentive to conserve gasoline when its cost is so low.
lowest
Coal forms from the remains of plants that lived in swamps hundreds of millions of years ago. Much of the coal in the eastern United States formed about 320 million to 300 million years ago, when vast areas of _______________ covered the eastern United States.
swampland
Coal deposits in the western United States are formed from ancient swamps, but those deposits are much _______________ . The abundant coal deposits in states such as Wyoming formed between 100 million and 40 million years ago.
younger
Oil and natural gas result from the decay of tiny marine organism that accumulated on the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago. After these remains were buried by sediments, they were heated until they became complex energy-rich carbon-based molecules. Over time, the molecules migrated into the _______________ rocks and now contain them.
porous
Much of the oil and natural gas in the United States is located in _______________ , _______________ , _______________ , and the _______________ _______________ _______________ .
Alaska
Texas
California
Gulf of Mexico
Most of the world’s fossil-fuel reserves are made up of _______________ . Asia and North America are particularly rich in _______________ deposits.
coal
coal
Two major advantages of coal are that it is relatively _______________ and that it needs little _______________ after it has been mined.
inexpensive
refining
About _______________ of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal-fired power plants.
half
The _______________ effects of coal mining vary.
environmental
Surface coal-mining operations sometimes remove the top of an entire _______________ .
mountain
Much research focuses on developing better methods of locating the most productive, clean-burning coal deposits and developing less _______________ methods of mining coal.
damaging
Higher-grade coals, such as _______________ coal, produce more heat and less pollution than a lower-grade coal, such as _______________ .
bituminous
lignite
Sulfur, which is found in all grades of coal, can be a major source of pollution when coal is burned. When high-sulfur, low-grade coal is burned, it releases much more _______________ than a low-sulfur bituminous coal does.
pollution
The air pollution and acid precipitation that result from burning high-sulfur coal without adequate pollution controls are serious problems in countries such as _______________ .
China
_______________ - _______________ coal technology has dramatically reduced air pollution in countries such as the United States.
Clean-building
Oil that is pumped from the ground is also known as _______________ oil, or petroleum. Anything that is made from crude oil, such as fuels, chemicals, and plastics, is called a _______________ product.
crude
petroleum
Petroleum accounts for _______________ percent of the world’s commercial energy use.
45
Oil is found in and around major _______________ features, such as folds, faults, and salt domes, that tend to trap oil as it moves in the Earth’s crust.
geologic
Most of the world’s oil reserves are in the Middle East. Large oil deposits also exist in the _______________ _______________ , _______________ , the _______________ _______________ , _______________ , and _______________ .
United States Venezuela North Sea Siberia Nigeria
When petroleum fuels are burned, they release _______________ . Internal combustion engines in vehicles that burn gasoline pollute the air in many cities.
pollutants
These pollutants contribute to the formation of _______________ and cause health problems.
smog
In recent years, new measures have been taken to prevent oil spills from tankers. These measures include requiring that new tankers be _______________ - hulled so that puncturing the outer hull does not allow the oil to leak out.
double
About 20 percent of the world’s nonrenewable energy comes from natural gas. Natural gas, or _______________ (CH4), is a good example of how advances in technology can make a fuel more common.
methane
Today, fossil fuels supply about _______________ percent of the energy used in developed countries. Some projections suggest that by 2050 world energy demand will have doubled, mainly as a result of increased population and industry in developing country.
90
Oil production is still increasing, but it is increasing much more slowly than it has in the past. Many different facts must be considered when _______________ oil production.
predicting
_______________ _______________ are oil deposits that can be extracted profitably at current prices using current technology.
Oil reserves
Nuclear power plants get their power from nuclear energy, the energy _______________ the _______________ of an atom. The forces that hold together the nucleus of an atom are more than _______________ times stronger than the chemical bonds between atoms.
within
nucleus
1 million
Nuclear power states are designed so that the _______________ _______________ produces a controllable level of energy.
chain reaction
Nuclear power stations do not produce greenhouse gases. When operated properly, nuclear plants release _______________ _______________ than coal-fired power plants do.
less radioactivity
Building and maintain a safe reactor is very _______________ . The last 20 nuclear reactors built reactors built in the United states cost more than $3,000 per kilowatt of electrical capacity. In contrast, wind power is being installed at less than $1,000 per kilowatt. This cost will decrease as construction costs decrease. Natural gas power plants are also less expensive to build than nuclear power plants, costing less than $600 per kilowatt.
expensive
The fuel cell of uranium produces _______________ products that remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years.
fission
The United States has spent over two decades studying a site called _______________ _______________ in southern Nevada as a place to store nuclear waste. Scientists are also researching a process called _______________ , which would recycle the radioactive elements in nuclear fuel.
Yucca Mountain
transmutation
In a poorly designed nuclear plant, the fission process can potentially get out of control. This is what happened during the world’s worst nuclear reactor accident, which occurred at _______________ in the Ukraine in 1986. Engineers turned off most of the reactor’s safety devices to conduct an unauthorized test. This test caused explosions that destroyed the reactor and released large amounts of radioactive materials into the air. Areas of northern Europe and the Ukraine are still contaminated.
Chernobyl
In the United States, the most serious nuclear accident occurred in 1979 at the _______________ _______________ _______________ nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Human error, along with blocked valves and broken pumps, caused the accident.
Three Mile Island
One possible future energy source is nuclear _______________ . Nuclear _______________ occurs when lightweight atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus and release tremendous amounts of energy.
fusion
fusion
Nuclear fusion powers all of the stars, including our sun. Fusion is potentially a safer energy source than nuclear fission is because it creates less _______________ _______________ _______________ .
dangerous radioactive byproducts
Renewable energy is energy from sources that are constantly being formed. In addition to solar energy, renewable energy sources include _______________ _______________ , the _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ , and _______________ _______________ .
wind energy
power of moving water
Earth’s heat
All sources of _______________ , including renewable sources, affect the environmental.
energy
Only a small fraction of the sun’s energy reaches the _______________ . However, this energy is enough to power the wind, plant growth, and the water cycle.
Earth
Nearly all renewable energy comes directly or indirectly from the _______________ . You use direct solar energy every day. When the sun shines on a window and heats a room, the room is being heated by solar power. Solar energy can also be used indirectly to generate electricity in solar cells.
sun
_______________ solar heating uses the sun’s energy to heat something directly.
Passive
_______________ solar heating energy from the sun can be gathered by collectors and used to heat water or to that heat a building.
Active
More than _______________ homes in the United States use active solar energy to heat water.
1 million
Solar cells, also called _______________ cells, convert the sun’s energy into electricity.
photovoltaic
A solar cell produces a very small electrical current. So meeting the electricity needs of a small _______________ would require covering hundreds of acres with solar panels. Solar cells also require covering hundreds of acres with solar panels. Solar cells also require extended periods of sunshine to produce electricity. This energy is stored in batteries, which supply electricity when the sun is not shining.
city
Currently, solar cells provide energy for more than _______________ households in the developing world.
1 million
Wind power, which converts the movement of wind into electric energy, is the _______________ -_______________ energy source in the world.
fastest-growing
Large arrays of wind turbines are called _______________ _______________ . In California, large _______________ _______________ supply electricity to 280,000 homes.
wind farms
wind farms
Because wind turbines take up little space, some farmers can add wind turbines to their land and still use the land for other _______________ . Farmers can then sell the electricity they generate to the local utility.
purposes
One of the problems of wind energy is transporting _______________ from rural areas where it is generated to urban centers where it is needed.
electricity
Plant material, manure, and any other organic matter that is used as an energy source is called a _______________ fuel. While fossil fuels are organic and can be thought of as biomass energy sources, fossil fuels are nonrenewable. Renewable biomass fuels, such as wood and dung, are major sources of energy in developing countries.
biomass
More than half of all _______________ cut in the world is used as fuel for heating and cooking. Although wood is a renewable resource, if trees are cut own faster than they grow, the resulting habitat loss, deforestation, and soil erosion can be severe.
wood
When bacteria decompose organic waters, one by-product is _______________ gas. Methane can be burned to generate heat or electricity.
methane
In the United states, _______________ is a major source of ethanol. Cars and trucks can run on ethanol or gasohol, a blend of gasoline and ethanol.
corn
Gasohol produces less air pollution than fossil fuels do. For this reason, some U.S. states require the use of gasohol in vehicles as a way to reduce _______________ pollution.
air
Energy from the sun causes water to evaporate, condense in the atmosphere, and fall back to the Earth’s surface as rain. As water flows across the land, the energy in its movement can be used to generate electricity. Hydroelectric energy, which is energy produced from moving water, is a renewable resource that accounts for about _______________ percent of the world’s electricity.
20
Although hydroelectric dams are expensive to build, they are relatively inexpensive to _______________ . Unlike fossil fuel plants, hydroelectric dams do not release air pollutants that cause acid precipitation. In addition, hydroelectric dams tend to _______________ much longer than fossil fuel-powered plants. Dams also provide other benefits such as flood control and water for drinking, agriculture, industry.
operate
late
A dam changes a river’s flow, which can have far-reaching consequences. A reservoir floods large areas of habitat above the dam. The water flow below the dam is reduced, which disrupts ecosystems down-stream. For example, many of the _______________ fisheries of the northwestern United States have been destroyed by dams that prevent the salmon from swimming upriver to spawn.
salmon
Recent research has also shown that the decay of plant matter trapped in reservoirs can release large amounts of _______________ gases—sometimes more than a fossil fuel-powered plants.
greenhouses
A modern trend is _______________ - _______________ , which is electricity produced in a small stream without having to build a big dam. The turbine may even float in the water, not blocking the river at all. _______________ - _______________ is much cheaper than large hydroelectric dam projects, and it permits energy to be garneted from small streams in remote areas.
micro-hydropower
Micro-hydropower
_______________ power plants pump heated water or steam from rock formations and use the water or steam to power a turbine that generates electricity. Usually the water is returned to the Earth’s crust where it can be heated and used again. The United States is the world’s largest producer of _______________ energy.
Geothermal
geothermal
Although geothermal energy is considered a renewable resource, the water in geothermal formations must be managed carefully so that it is not _______________ .
depleted
More than _______________ homes in the United States are heated and cooled using geothermal heat pumps.
600,000
The energy of the tides was used nearly a thousand years ago to power _______________ in France and Britain. Today, tidal power is used to generate electricity in countries such as France and Britain. Today, tidal power is used to generate electricity in countries such as France, Russia, and Canada.
mills
In the tropics, the temperature difference between the surface of the ocean, which is warmed by solar energy, and deep ocean water can be as much as 24ᵒC (43ᵒF). An experimental power station off the shores of _______________ uses this temperature difference to generate electricity.
Hawaii
Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, can be burned as a fuel. When hydrogen is burned, it combines with _______________ to produce water vapor, a harmless byproduct.
oxygen
_______________ _______________ may be the engines of the future. Like a battery, a fuel cell produces electricity chemically, by combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen from the air. When hydrogen and oxygen are combined, electrical energy is produced and water is the only byproduct.
Fuel cells
_______________ _______________ is the percentage of energy put into a system that does useful work.
Energy efficiency
Nothing would increase the energy efficiency of American life more than developing efficient engines to power vehicles and increasing the use of _______________ _______________ systems.
public transportation
Hybrid cars are examples of energy-efficient vehicles. Hybrid cars use of small, efficient gasoline engine most of the time, but they also use an _______________ motor when extra power is needed.
electric
The average household in the United States spends more than _______________ on energy bills each year. Unfortunately, much of that energy is wasted. Most of the energy lost from homes is lost through poorly insulated windows, doors, walls, and the roof.
1500
A good way to increase energy efficiency is to add to the _______________ of a home.
insulation
