Natural Resources Flashcards
Any natural material that is used by humans, such as water, petroleum, minerals, forests, and animals
Natural Resource
A natural resource that can be replaced at the same rate at which the resource is consumed
Renewable Resource
A resource that forms at a rate that is much slower than the rate at which it is consumed
Nonrenewable Resource
The process of recovering valuable or useful materials from waste and scrape
Recycling
A nonrenewable energy resource formed from the remains of organisms that lived long ago
Fossil Fuel
A liquid mixture of complex hydrocarbon compounds
Petroleum
A mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons located under the surface of the earth, often near petroleum deposits
Natural Gas
A fossil fuel that forms underground from partially decomposed plant materials
Coal
Precipitation, such as rain, sleet, or snow, that contains a high concentration of acids, often because of the pollution of the atmosphere
Acid Precipitation
Urban air pollution composed of a mixture of smoke and fog produced from industrial pollutants and burning fuels
Smog
A the energy released by a fission or fusion reaction; the binding energy of the atomic nucleus
Nuclear Energy
The energy released when a chemical compound reacts to produce new compounds
Chemical Energy
The energy received by Earth from the sun in the form of radiation
Solar Energy
The use of a windmill to drive an electric generator
Wind Power
Electrical energy produced by the flow of water
Hydroelectric Energy
