Energy Resources Flashcards
Natural Resource
is anything that people can use which comes from nature. People do not make natural resources, but gather them from the earth. Examples of natural resources are air, water, wood, oil, wind energy, iron, and coal.
Renewable Resource
is an organic natural resource which can replenish to overcome usage and consumption, either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes. Renewable resources are a part of Earth’s natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere.
Nonrenewable Resource
A resource of economic value that cannot be readily replaced by natural means on a level equal to its consumption. Most fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal are considered nonrenewable resources in that their use is not sustainable because their formation takes billions of years.
Fossil Fuel
is a general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s c
Nuclear Fission
is the main process generating nuclear energy. Radioactive decay of both fission products and transuranic elements formed in a reactor yield heat even after fission has ceased.
Nuclear Fusion
is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei come very close and then collide at a very high speed and join to form a new nucleus. During this process, matter is not conserved because some of the matter of the fusing nuclei is converted to photons (energy).
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
a colorless, odorless, flammable gas that combines chemically with oxygen to form water: the lightest of the known elements.
Solar Energy
is radiant light and heat from the Sun harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis.
Wind Energy
is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical power. The term appears to have migrated from parallel hydroelectric technology (rotary propeller). The technical description for this type of machine is an aerofoil-powered generator.
Hydroelectric energy
is energy derived from the movement of water. Water has mass. It falls and flows downward due to gravity. When it moves, it has kinetic energy which can be harnessed. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion.
Biomass
the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume.
Ethanol (E85)
is an abbreviation for an ethanol fuel blend of 85% denatured ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume, although the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon can vary considerably while still carrying the E85 label.
Geothermal Energy
is the heat from the Earth. It’s clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.
Petroleum
a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that is present in certain rock strata and can be extracted and refined to produce fuels including gasoline, kerosene, and diesel oil; oil.
Natural Gas
is a fossil fuel formed when layers of decomposing plant and animal matter are exposed to intense heat and pressure over thousands of years. The energy that the plants originally obtained from the sun is stored in the form of chemical bonds in natural gas.
