Hit Parade (ch 8) Flashcards
the use of devices, such as solar panels, to collect, focus, transport, or store solar energy
active collection
the cleanest-burning coal; almost pure carbon
anthracite
the unit used to describe the volume of fossil fuels
barrels
the second-purest form of coal
bituminous
the form petroleum takes when in the ground
crude oil
the capacity to do work
energy
a nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus, especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of uranium, splits into fragments, usually two fragments of comparable mass, releasing from 100 million to several hundred million electron volts of energy
fission
a hydrocarbon deposit, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas, derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel
fossil fuel
says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed
First Law of Thermodynamics
a waste product produced by the burning of coal
fly ash
the amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to disappear
half-life
an influential theory that concerns the long-term rate of conventional oil (and other fossil fuel) extraction and depletion. It predicts that future world oil production will soon reach a peak and then rapidly decline
Hubbert Peak (aka peak oil)
power generated using water
hydroelectric power
energy of motion
kinetic energy
the least pure oil
lignite
the process of fusing two nuclei
nuclear fusion
the rocks and earth that are removed when strip mining for a commercially valuable mineral resource
overburden
the use of building materials, building placement, and design to passively collect solar energy that can be used to keep a building warm or cool
passive solar energy collection
oil, a hydrocarbon that forms as sediments are buried and pressurized
petroleum
a semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy
photovoltaic cell (PV cell)
energy at rest, or stored energy
potential energy
an estimate of the amount of fossil fuel that can be obtained from reserve
proven reserve
sunlight
radiant energy
devices containing alkaline substances that precipitate out much of the sulfur dioxide from industrial plants air effluent
scrubbers
says that the entropy (disorder) of the universe is increasing. One corollary of this is the concept that, in most energy transformations, a significant fraction of energy is lost to the universe as heat.
Second Law of Thermodynamics
involves the removal of the earth’s surface all the way down to the level of the mineral seam
strip mining
the third purest form of coal
subbituminous
involves the sinking of shafts to reach underground deposits. In this type of mining, networks of tunnels are dug or blasted and humans enter these tunnels in order to manually retrieve the coal
underground mining
a group of modern turbines
wind farm
