Energy Flashcards
Approximately what percentage of the energy used to support our current lifestyle comes from fossil fuels?
over 85%
What percentage of the electricity produced in the world today comes from nuclear fusion?
0%
The first law of thermodynamics is sometimes called the law of
conservation of energy
Approximately what percentage of electricity generated in the United States is hydroelectric?
7%
Which problem do all electric power plants have in common?
thermal pollution
Which of the following is NOT a fossil fuel?
wood
The SI unit of energy is the
joule
The efficiency of current solar cells is approximately
15%
Pure isooctane would have an octane rating of
100
All of the following examples are classified as potential energy EXCEPT
A) energy of a moving object.*
B) energy in nuclear particles.
C) energy stored by position.
D) energy in chemical bonds
Approximately what percentage of the chemical energy of a fossil fuel electrical power plant is “lost” as heat energy?
60%
Which of the following petroleum fractions has the highest boiling point?
lubricants
Approximately what percentage of the total solar radiation that falls upon the earth is immediately reflected back into space?
30%
The thin film of air, water, and soil in which all life exists is only about 15 km thick and is called the
biosphere
The United States is estimated to have approximately what percentage of the world’s coal reserves?
25%
The fastest growing energy source in the United states is
wind power
Photovoltaic cells convert
solar energy into electrical energy
The fraction from the distillation of crude petroleum that is slightly heavier than gasoline is called
kerosene
An advantage of natural gas as a fuel is that it is
the cleanest of the fossil fuels
Petroleum is best described as a(n)
complex mixture
Another name for the first law of thermodynamics is
the law of conservation of energy
Which of the following is a fuel?
A) C*
B) HCl
C) CO2
D) H2O
When coal containing sulfur is burned, the sulfur is converted to
gaseous sulfur oxides that go up the smokestack
Approximately what percentage of U.S. electricity is generated by the burning of coal?
50%
The yield of gasoline from crude petroleum can be increased by
catalytic cracking of heavier fractions
The highest grade of coal is
anthracite
Control rods in a nuclear reactor are used to
absorb neutron and slow down fission
Pure heptane would have an octane rating of
0
The major components of petroleum is/are
hydrocarbons
Which of the following situations would be an example of kinetic energy?
a nuclear explosion
For most uses, the most convenient form of energy is
electrical
The solar energy absorbing molecules of plants that power photosynthesis are called
chlorophylls
What metal, when added as a compound, increases octane rating of gasoline?
Pb
The principal fuel(s) for nuclear fusion would be
deuterium and tritium (2H and 3H)
Which physical state has the lowest entropy?
a solid
A gasoline with an octane rating of 90 would give the same performance in a standard test engine as a mixture of
90% isooctane and 10% heptane.
The most abundant fossil fuel in the United States is
coal
The petroleum fraction that has the lowest boiling point (distills first) is
natural gas
Which of the following forms of energy is the dirtiest?
coal
To make crude petroleum more useful, it must be
distilled
