natural resources Flashcards
Natural Resource
Natural resources are resources that exist without any actions of humankind. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value
Renewable Resource
A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource that will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale
Nonrenewable Resource
A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption. An example is carbon-based fossil fuels. The original organic matter, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas
Recycling
the action or process of converting waste into reusable material.
Fossil Fuel
a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.
Petroleum
Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur on Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid form. The term is often restricted to the liquid form, commonly called crude oil. But, as a technical term, petroleum also includes natural gas and the viscous or solid form known as bitumen, which is found in tar sands
Natural Gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting of methane and commonly including varying amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium.
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. … Some iron and steel making and other industrial processes burn coal.
Acid Precipitation
Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. This can include rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic.
Smog
Smog is a kind of air pollution, originally named for the mixture of smoke and fog in the air. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area and is caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide. … Smog is a problem in a number of cities and continues to harm human health.
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants.
Chemical Energy
Chemical energy is the energy of chemical substances that is released when they undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances. Some examples of storage media of chemical energy include batteries, food, gasoline, and oxygen gas.
Solar Energy
Solar energy is the radiation from the Sun capable of producing heat, causing chemical reactions, or generating electricity. The total amount of solar energy received on Earth is vastly more than the world’s current and anticipated energy requirements
Wind Power
power obtained by harnessing the energy of the wind.
Hydroelectric Energy
Hydroelectric energy, also called hydroelectric power or hydroelectricity, is a form of energy that harnesses the power of water in motion—such as water flowing over a waterfall—to generate electricity. People have used this force for millennia
