Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources Vocabulary Flashcards
Water table
Area at the top of the zone of saturation where water rises and falls according to the weather and human intervention.
Reservoir
Artificial lake created when a river is dammed.
Desalination
Process of removing salt from ocean water or brackish (slightly salty) water in aquifers or lakes.
Gray water
Wastewater from showers, sinks, dishwashers, and washing machines that can be reused for some purposes such as watering lawns or washing cars.
Wastewater
Water that contains sewage and other wastes from homes and industries.
Eutrophication
Process by which a body of water gains nutrients.
Water pollution
Any change in water quality that can harm living organisms or make water unfit for human uses such as drinking, irrigation, and recreation.
Mineral
Chemical element or inorganic compound that exists as a solid with a regularly repeating internal structure.
Rare Earth Metal
Mineral with superior or unique properties that make it extremely useful in technology products.
Strip mining
Any form of mining involving the extraction of mineral deposits that lie in large horizontal beds close to Earth’s surface.
Surface mining
Removing vegetation, soil, and rock to extract a mineral deposit in Earth’s surface.
Smelting
Process in which a mineral ore is heated in order to separate a desired metal from the other elements in the ore.
Nanotechnology
Use of science and engineering to manipulate and create materials out of atoms and molecules at the ultra-small scale of less than 100 nano-meters.
Crude oil
Gooey liquid consisting of hydrocarbon compounds and other compounds, formed from the remains of ancient organisms over the course of millions of years. Extracted from underground deposits, crude oil is sent to oil refineries, where it is heated to separate it into various fuels and other components.
Refining
Complex process of heating crude oil to separate it into various fuels and other components with different boiling points.
Coal
Fossil fuel formed from the remains of land plants that were buried and exposed to intense heat and pressure for 300 to 400 million years.
Natural gas
Underground deposits of gases consisting of 50–90% methane and smaller amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbon compounds such as propane and butane.
Nuclear fusion
Method of producing nuclear power in which the nuclei of two isotopes of a light element are forced together at extremely high temperatures until they fuse to form a heavier nucleus, which releases energy in the process.
Nuclear fission
Method of producing nuclear power by splitting a large nucleus into two or more smaller nuclei. The release of neutrons results in a chain reaction that releases an enormous amount of energy.
Bio-fuel
Fuel, such as ethyl alcohol or bio-diesel, made from plant material (biomass).
Biomass
Organic matter produced by plants that can be burned in either solid or gaseous form to produce energy.
Energy efficiency
Measure of how much useful work can be extracted from each unit of energy used.
Hydro-power
Technology that uses the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water to produce electricity.
Geothermal energy
Heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the Earth’s mantle. It is used to heat and cool buildings and water and to produce electricity.
Decarbonization
Global transition away from fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel
Fuel such as coal or gas, created from fossils.
Renewable resource
Resource that can be replenished rapidly (in hours to centuries) through natural processes as long as it is not used up faster than it is replaced.
Nonrenewable resource
Resource that exists in a fixed amount and takes millions to billions of years to form, so it will be used more quickly than it can be replaced.
