Unit 6 - Energy Resources

Question 1

What are the parts of a nuclear power plant?

Answer 1

• Reactor core
• Control rods
• Heat exchanger
• Turbine
• Generator
• Cooling tower

Question 2

What are the benefits, drawbacks, and pollutants associated with oil?

Answer 2

Benefits:
cleaner than coal

Drawbacks:
refining required, oil spills

Pollutants:
2nd highest source of CO2
Carbon Monoxide
Nitrogen Dioxide

Question 3

What are the benefits, drawbacks, and pollutants associated with Coal?

Answer 3

Benefits:
no refining
easy to transport

Drawbacks:
mining is destructive
human health concerns
acid rain

Pollutants:
Highest emitter of CO2
toxic metals (mercury and lead)

Question 4

What are the benefits, drawbacks, and pollutants associated with Natural Gas?

Answer 4

Benefits:
high efficiency
fewer impurities
least emitter of CO2

Drawbacks:
explosive
Methane (much stronger than CO2)

Pollutants:
C02 and carbon monoxide
toxic metals (mercury)
Methane

Question 5

What are the benefits, drawbacks, and pollutants associated with Nuclear Energy?

Answer 5

Benefits:
no CO2 emissions
high energy

Drawbacks:
expensive startup
meltdowns are catastrophic
no plan for radioactive waste

Pollutants:
radioactive waste

Question 6

What are the types of non-renewables?

Answer 6

Oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy

Question 7

What are the types of renewables?

Answer 7

Passive solar, active solar, hydropower, wind power, biomass, geothermal, hydrogen fuel

Question 8

Where does one find coal?

Answer 8

Eastern US, Russia, China, and Australia

Question 9

Where does one find oil?

Answer 9

Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Quatar

Question 10

Where does one find natural gas?

Answer 10

Russia, Middle East

Question 11

What is a hydrogen fuel cell?

Answer 11

They produce energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen atoms

Question 12

What are the benefits and drawbacks of hydrogen fuel cells?

Answer 12

Benefits:
only emission is water vapor
can be used in many things that require energy (cars)
hydrogen is abundant

Drawbacks:
extremely expensive
hydrogen fuel is made from non-renewables

Question 13

What is biomass (in the context of energy production)?

Answer 13

Biomass is burned and goes through a process to turn it into energy.

Question 14

What are the benefits and drawbacks associated with biomass?

Answer 14

Benefits:
abundant resource
byproducts that have no other use
reduces landfill sizes
energy is consistent

Drawbacks:
costs vary based on type and transportation
requires tons of space
deforestation and clear-cutting for space
emissions are similar or worse than fossil fuels

Question 15

What is geothermal energy?

Answer 15

Energy that comes from hot water below the earth’s surface that is turned into steam that turns a turbine to generate electricity

Question 16

What are the benefits and drawbacks of geothermal energy?

Answer 16

Benefits:
only emitter is water vapor
energy plants are small
silent and constant energy
very safe

Drawbacks:
need to be built in specific places where the energy is accessible
usable in places with plate boundaries
can cause earthquakles
difficult to distribute

Question 17

What are the metric conversions?

Answer 17

1 Giga (G) = 1,000,000,000 units
1 Mega (M) = 1,000,000 units
1 kilo (k) = 1,000 units
1 hecta (h) = 100 units
1 deka (da) = 10 units

UNIT (m, g, L)

10 deci (d) = 1 unit
100 centi (c) = 1 unit
1,000 milli (m) = 1 unit
1,000,000 micro (u) = 1 unit
1,000,000,000 nano = 1 unit

Question 18

What are the differences between passive and active solar?

Answer 18

Passive:
Uses things like windows and structures to maximize heat and light directly from then sun

Active:
Uses devices to convert the sun’s energy into things like electricity or hot water

Question 19

Photovoltaic cells

Question 20

Coal formation process

Question 21

Most abundant sources of energy in US and world