Vocab from Friedland and Relyea
Terms : Hide Images
| 661648678 | fossil fuels | energy derived from biological material that became fossilized millions of years ago. The three main ones are coal, oil and natural gas | |
| 661648679 | nuclear fuels | derived from radioactive materials that give off energy | |
| 661648680 | commercial energy sources | An energy source that is bought and sold | |
| 661648681 | subsistence energy sources | Energy sources gathered by individuals for their own immediate needs | |
| 661648682 | energy return on investment | (energy obtained from the fuel)/ (energy invested to obtain fuel) | |
| 661648683 | energy carrier | something that can move and deliver energy in a convernient and usable form to end users | |
| 661648684 | turbine | a large device that resembles a fan or jet engine | |
| 661648685 | electrical grid | A network of interconnected transmission lines that joins power plants together and links them with end users of electricity | |
| 661648686 | combined cycle | A power plant that uses both exhaust gases and steam turbines to generate electricity for increased efficiency | |
| 661648687 | capacity | maximum electrical output | |
| 661648688 | capacity factor | the fraction of the time a plant is operating | |
| 661648689 | cogeneration | the use of a fuel to generate electricity and produce heat | |
| 661648690 | coal | a solid fuel formed primarily from the remains of trees, ferns, and other plant material that were preserved 280+millions years ago [4 types include lignite, subbituminous, bituminous, and anthracite] It is found in USA, Russia, China, and INdia. Biggest producers are China, USA, India and Australia | |
| 661648691 | petroleum | a fluid mixture of hydrocarbons, water and sulfer that occurs underground in deposits. Easy to transport | |
| 661648692 | crude oil | liquid petroleum that is removed from the ground | |
| 661648693 | Exxon Valdez | an oil tanker accident in 1989 on the coast of Alaska | |
| 661648694 | natural gas | component of petroleum that exists in a gaseous state and is 80%-95% methane an 5-20% ethane, propane and butane. It is hard/dangerous to transport but is very cheap. | |
| 661648695 | oil sands | slow flowing visous depostits of bitumen mixed with sand, water, and clay. | |
| 661648696 | bitumen | tar or pitch, formed when a petroleum deposit is not capped with a nonporous rock and can be extracted when is rises higher by suface mining | |
| 661648697 | energy intensity | energy per use per unit of gross domestic product | |
| 661648698 | hubbert curve | a bell shaped curve representing oil use | |
| 661648699 | peak oil | the point where half of the supply of oil has been used up | |
| 661648700 | fission | a nuclear reaction in which a massive nucleus splits into smaller nuclei with the simultaneous release of energy | |
| 661648701 | fuel rods | uranium-235 rods that undergo fission in a nuclear reactor | |
| 661648702 | control rods | neutron-absorbing rods that help control the reaction by limiting the number of free neutrons | |
| 661648703 | meltdown | severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor resulting in the core melting and radiation escaping | |
| 661648704 | radioactive waste | Particles from a nuclear reaction that emit radiation; contact with such particles may be harmful or lethal to people and must therefore be safely stored for thousands of years. After 10 halflifes, they are usually safe | |
| 661648705 | nuclear fusion | a nuclear reaction in which nuclei combine to form more massive nuclei with the simultaneous release of energy | |
| 661648706 | halflife | the time required for one half of the atoms of a radioisotope to emit radiation an decay products | |
| 661648707 | nonrenewable energy source | An energy source with a finite supply, primarily the fossil fuels and nuclear fuels. | |
| 661648708 | CTL (Coal to Liquid) | The process of converting solid coal into liquid fuel. | |
| 661648709 | Curie | A unit of measure for radiation. 1 curie = 37 billion decays per second | |
| 661648710 | Becquerel (Bq) | Unit that measures the rate at which a sample of radioactive material decays. 1 Bq = decay of 1 atom or nucleus per second. | |
| 661648711 | hydraulic fracturing | the process of creating fissures, or fractures, in underground formations by pumping water, sand, and other additives under high pressure into the formations to allow natural gas and oil to flow. this process has allowed the oil and gas industry to open many new oil and gas fields in shale rock, expanding supplies of those fuels. | |
| 661648712 | BTU | British Thermal Unit, the amount of energy required to raise one pound of water by one degree fahrenheit. | |
| 661648713 | nuclear fusion | a nuclear reaction in which nuclei combine to form more massive nuclei with the simultaneous release of energy | |
| 661648714 | nuclear radiation | the particles that are released from the nucleus during radioactive decay |
