Fossil Fuels

Question 1

List the principal Fossil Fuels (3)

Answer 1

Oil, Coal, and Gas

Question 2

How is Oil and Natural Gas formed? (4)

Answer 2

• Sea plants & animals die and are buried under sand and silt on the sea bed.
• Over time the remains are buried deeper and deeper as enormous amounts of pressure is applied by the sand and silt.
• This pressure created Oil and Natural gas.
• Today we drill trough that sand ans silt to access the Oil and Gas.

Question 3

When did we start to use fossil fuels? (1)

Answer 3

During the industrial revolution in the 1800s.

Question 4

How many tonnes of coal is left and how long is it likely to last? (2)

Answer 4

1.1 trillion tonnes will last another 100+ years

Question 5

What is Oil mainly used for? (3)

Answer 5

• Heating
• Electricity generation
• Roads

Question 6

What is Natural Gas mainly used for? 9£0

Answer 6

• Heating
• Cooking
• Electricity generation

Question 7

What percentage did fossil fuels make up of the Global Energy Consumption in 2013? (1)

Answer 7

87%

Question 8

What fossil fuel releases the least harmful emissions? (1)

Answer 8

Natural Gas

Question 9

What fossil fuel releases the most harmful emissions? (1)

Answer 9

Coal

Question 10

Why do we need to conserve fossil fuels? (2)

Answer 10

Because these fossil fuels are a non-renewable source of energy, and if we do not convert to renewable sources of energy, in 50 years nation wide black outs will become regular occurances and disrupt the world as we know it.

Question 11

How many more years do we have until Oil and Gas run out? (1)

Answer 11

50 years

Question 12

What are the two different groups that countries can fall into? (2)

Answer 12

-Annex (Developed nations)

Non-Annex (Developing nations)

Question 13

Describe the Carbon Trading Concept. (4)

Answer 13

• Carbon trading is a cocept which was agrred to by some countries to reduce carbon emissions
• Countries are assigned maximum carbon emission levels
• Emitting more than the assigned limit results in those limits being lowwered even more the next year.
• Countries that emit lower than its Carbon limit can trade their units for money to other countried that have failed to meet their targets.

Question 14

State three reasons in favor of Carbon Trading. (3)

Answer 14

-Environment
This system should result in cleaner air by reducing emissions because of the costs involved.

-Control
Should provide governments a form of control over their emissions emited by their industries.

-Finantial Incentive
If countried try hard to reduce their emissions they could gain Carbon Credits which they could sell on the open market to make money.

Question 15

State four reasons against Carbon Trading. (4)

Answer 15

-Economy
Businesses could not get involved because they don’t want to incur costs that reduce their proffits.

-Complexity
Developed countries will have the infrastructure to produce low emissions, developing countries don’t.

-Measuring Emissions
Very difficult and potentially unreliable with large margins of error.

-Size of Credits
Limits abailable in a country may be too high to produce a significant decrease in Carbon Emissions.

Question 16

State four uses of fossil fuels in modern day life. (4)

Answer 16

Power
Transport fuel
Plastics
Pharmaceutics

Question 17

Define what a fossil fuel is. (2)

Answer 17

A fuel consisting of the remains of organisms preserved in rocks in the earth’s crust with high carbon and hydrogen content, such as coal.

Question 18

Define what a renewable energy source is. (2)

Answer 18

A form of energy derived from natural sources that do not use up natural resources to harm the environment, such as wind.

Question 19

State three different manufacturing processes that rely on fossil fuels for their raw materials. (3)

Answer 19

Plastics / pharmaceuticals / fibres.

Question 20

Explain why global action on conservation of fossil fuels and climate change is needed. (3)

Answer 20

Conservation is triggered by a realisation that the worlds non-renewable resources are diminishing and that countries are using fossil fuels at a faster rate especially in emerging economies e.g. China, India {1}

Climate change has been linked to increasing use of fossil fuels. {1}

Global action is needed because the impact of excessive resource use affects the whole world. {1}

Question 21

State 2 pieces of evidence presented by the global scientific community linking the combustion of fossil fuels with global warming and climate change. {2}

Answer 21

• Weather patterns – Floods, Increased storms and famines.

- Sea temperature rises.
-Ecology changes.
-Polar Ice caps melting.
-Rise in sea levels.

Question 22

Describe three different pieces of scientific evidence that link the combustion of fossil fuels to global warming and climate change. {3}

Answer 22

• Levels of carbon dioxide has increased markedly.
• Extreme weather is more common.
• There is an increase in sea level.

Question 23

State the main European, UK and NI government targets with regards to the continued use of fossil fuels as an energy source, as we approach 2020. {3}

Answer 23

1. 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions. {1}
2. 20% increase in energy produced using renewable sources{1}
3. 20% cut in energy consumption. {1}

Question 24

Assess the validity of using nuclear energy as a viable alternative to both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. {5}

Answer 24

Reference should be made to the relative energy densities of a fossil fuel {1}, renewable source {1} and nuclear source {1}.
Answers should provide details of how fossil fuels {1} and renewable sources {1} compare to nuclear energy.

Question 25

Discuss the use of nuclear power stations as a viable alternative to coal fired power stations. Your discussion should focus on two different factors. {4}

Answer 25

• Energy density: Nuclear fuels have a very high energy density (compared with coal) so very small quantities are required. This reduces transport and storage requirements.
• Greenhouse gas emissions: Nuclear power stations produce little or no greenhouse gases so they do not contribute to global warming. They do not rely on combustion to release energy (unlike coal).
• Cost: The cost of building (and decommissioning) nuclear power stations is very high (compared with coal fired power stations). The cost of the fuel (uranium) is low because small quantities are required.
• Safety: If there is an accident, large amounts of radioactive material could be released into the environment.
• Health: Nuclear power stations produce radioactive waste which is toxic and must be disposed of and stored very carefully. If this is not done correctly it can cause adverse health effects such as cancer and birth defects. Nuclear waste remains active and is hazardous to health for thousands of years.

Question 26

What is the efficiency of a fossil fuel power plant? (2)

Answer 26

30-50% depending on age/design.