Natural Resources: Energy Resources (Unit 6) Flashcards
What is the world’s main source of energy?
Fossil Fuels
What is the most abundant fossil fuel in the world? What is coal? What is a hydrocarbon? Where can coal be found? Which five countries have the largest coal reserves? How popular is it in terms of electricity?
Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the world. It is a hydrocarbon, or compound of hydrogen and carbon, that can be found in every continent, with the largest reserves located in the United States, Russia, China, Australia, and India. It is the largest energy source for generating electricity worldwide.
How was coal formed 300 million years ago?
Coal formation began about 300 million years ago. On Earth, seas were wide and shallow, and forests were dense. The forest were overtaken with water, which trapped algae and plants at the bottom of swamp wetlands. Over millions of years, the dead plants (mostly mosses) and algae were buried under layers of sediment and rocks. The high pressure and compression from these layers caused temperatures to increase. The high temperatures and acidic water prohibited plant matter from receiving oxygen. As a result, the plant matter decayed slowly. As it decayed, it kept most of its carbon, its main energy source. Places underground where this matter was buried are known as peat bogs. Through this process, peat was changed to carbon-rich coal far below Earth’s surface.
What does oil, or crude oil, consist of? Where is it found? How is it extracted? What is it used for? What is its biggest use?
Oil, or crude oil, is a fossil fuel consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons. It exists in liquid form underground in reservoirs or in tiny spaces within sedimentary rocks. It is extracted from the ground through drilling. It is used to make petroleum products, which are fuels made from crude oil and natural gas. Oil’s biggest use today is in the production of gasoline, which fuels the transportation industry.
What is natural gas made up of? What element makes up the majority of natural gas? How is it extracted? What does fracking consist of? What is natural gas used for?
Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is made up of many compounds, the largest of which is methane. Most natural gas is found in spaces and cracks between rocks. It is extracted by either drilling or by hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Fracking consists of breaking the rocks to release the natural gas. Today, natural gas is used for electricity and fuel.
How did oil and natural gas form 300-400 million years ago?
Oil and natural gas formed in oceans millions of years ago when marine plants and animals died and fell to the ocean floor where they were buried. Layers of sand, sediment, and water covered the remains. If the decaying matter was mostly animals, intense heat and pressure compressed the decaying animal matter into oil. If the decaying matter was mostly plants and there was an extreme amount of heat and pressure, the carbon bonds broke down into methane, producing natural gas.
Review: Coal is formed underneath the floor of swamps. Plants die and fall to the bottom of swamps. Sediment, rocks, and water cover decaying matter, putting heat and pressure on it. Oxygen is pushed out of decaying matter, leaving carbon-rich coal.
Coal is formed underneath the floor of swamps. Plants die and fall to the bottom of swamps. Sediment, rocks, and water cover decaying matter, putting heat and pressure on it. Oxygen is pushed out of decaying matter, leaving carbon-rich coal.
Review: Natural gas and oil are formed underneath the ocean floor. Plants and animals die and fall to the ocean floor. Sediment, sand, and water cover decaying matter, putting heat and pressure on it. Decaying matter is compressed into oil. If the remains are mostly plants and temperatures are high enough, carbon bonds break, producing methane, or natural gas.
Natural gas and oil are formed underneath the ocean floor. Plants and animals die and fall to the ocean floor. Sediment, sand, and water cover decaying matter, putting heat and pressure on it. Decaying matter is compressed into oil. If the remains are mostly plants and temperatures are high enough, carbon bonds break, producing methane, or natural gas.
Everyday in the United States, how many gasoline do humans consume? Is gasoline naturally found or does it have to be refined from oil?
Everyday in the United States, people use roughly 392 million gallons of gasoline to fuel their vehicles. However, gasoline is not a resource that is extracted directly from the ground. Gasoline, like many other fuels, is derived from a fossil fuel that is extracted and refined into a fuel usable for consumption.
What color is coal and what type of rock is it? What are deposits of coal called? How were these deposits formed and where can they be found?
Coal is a black, sometimes brown-blackish, sedimentary rock composed primarily of carbon. Deposits of coal in the earth are called coal seams or coal beds. Some coal seams are near the surface, while others are buried deep underground. The coal seams formed over millions of years as dead plant matter at the bottom of swamps decayed into peat, and heat and pressure changed the peat to coal.
What are the two ways coal is mined from the Earth?
surface mining and underground mining
When is surface mining used to obtain coal?
Surface mining is used when coal is less than 200 feet underground.
After coal is extracted, where is it taken? What happens at these preparation plants, which are near the mining site? (1st step in refining)
After coal is extracted, it is taken to preparation plants near the mining site. It is cleaned to remove ash, dirt, rocks, sulfur, and other materials. Larger pieces of coal are crushed into smaller, useful sizes. The coal is then transported, usually by train, to industries for use.
After the preparation plant, where does coal go? How do industries utilize the coal? How is coal used in electricity?
Industries burn coal to produce energy and electricity. Burning coal produces steam. Steam rotates turbines, which, in turn, produces electricity. Electricity is the main usage of coal in the United States.
Through which process can coal be processed into a liquid? What can liquid coal be used for? What percentage does this usage account for in terms of coal usage?
Coal can also be processed into liquid fuel through the process of liquefaction. Liquid coal can be used in the transportation industry as a petroleum substitute. This usage is not common, however, and accounts for just 1% of all coal use.
What is crude oil primarily composed of? How did it form? Where can crude oil be found today?
Crude oil is a liquid fossil fuel primarily composed of hydrocarbons. It began millions of years ago as dead plant and animal matter at the bottom of oceans. The matter decayed and compressed under the immense heat and pressure of sediment, rock, and water until it reached liquid form. Today, crude oil is buried underground in reservoirs or pools as well as in small spaces within sedimentary rocks.
How is crude oil refined, or processed, into gasoline and other products?
Crude oil can be refined, or processed, into usable gasoline fuel in multiple ways. Crude oil is piped into a furnace and heated to temperatures as high as 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit. It is then piped into a distillation tower where various hydrocarbons in the crude oil cause the oil to rise to different levels in the tower according to the boiling point of the hydrocarbons.
- The levels near the top of the tower collect liquids and gases with lower boiling points. Some of the liquids are processed into gasoline.
- The levels near the bottom of the tower collect liquids with higher boiling points. Some of these liquids can undergo more complicated processing to convert them into gasoline.
How many gallons of gasoline does the world consume in one day?
3.8 billion
How is crude oil extracted and transported to a refinery?
To get crude oil, we drill deep down into the earth and pull it out, in a process known as extraction. From there, the oil is transported via pipelines or tankers over hundreds of miles to a refinery.
What are the various materials crude oil can be refined into?
Crude oil can be refined into many useful things, including jet fuel, heating oil, plastics, and asphalt. But for highway use, it’s petrol that we’re interested in, which is just a fancier name for gasoline.
What happens to crude oil when it is placed within a crude tower? What is the process known as cracking? What does a vacuum tower do? What is the end result?
We start by putting it into what’s known as a crude tower and raising the temperature to over 700 degrees. At that temperature, crude oil finally starts to boil and break apart in a process known as cracking. After further refinement in a vacuum tower, we finally have our petrol.
What are the characteristics of petrol that make it useful? How is it transported to terminals? How is it transported to gas stations?
Petrol is incredibly explosive and flammable, but that’s what makes it so useful when it comes to our car engines, which convert that potential chemical energy into kinetic energy—also known as good old-fashioned horsepower. Once the petrol is ready for distribution, it’s delivered via underground pipes to terminals, and then tanker trucks deliver it to gas stations.
Where is natural gas found? What are the two ways in which it is extracted? What is the process of hydraulic fracturing or fracking? What is the mixture used in fracking?
Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is found in enormous layers of shale rock between 6,000 and 8,000 feet below Earth’s surface. It is extracted by either drilling, in a manner similar to drilling for crude oil, or by hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Fracking consists of drilling and pumping a water mixture into the earth. This mixture of sand, water, and chemicals flows at high pressure into the rock, breaking it apart and releasing the natural gas.
After natural gas is extracted, how is it transported to processing plants? What steps are taken to remove its impurities? After this, where can the natural gas go?
After extraction, natural gas is piped to processing plants, where it goes through many steps. One of the first steps is to remove oil, water, and other impurities including carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen. Afterwards, methane is separated out through a distillation process. Once these impurities are removed, the natural gas can be transported to the market for consumption.
How is natural gas transported for consumer and industrial use?
The transportation of usable natural gas includes many different pipelines. An interstate natural gas pipeline is a large pipeline that works and moves natural gas across state borders. An intrastate natural gas pipeline works and moves natural gas within a state border. Smaller pipelines take the natural gas from these large pipelines and transport it to homes or buildings. All of these pipelines work together to transport natural gas to many different sectors nationwide, including the industrial sector, which is the leading consumer of natural gas in the United States.
