naterral resoreces Flashcards
(18 cards)
Natural Resource
Natural resources are resources that exist without any actions of humankind. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value.
Renewable Resource
A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale.
Nonrenewable Resource
A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption. An example is carbon-based fossil fuels. The original organic matter, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas.
Recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state.
Fossil Fuel
A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed underground from the remains of dead plants and animals that humans extract and burn to release energy for use. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum and natural gas, which humans extract through mining and drilling.
Petroleum
Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur on Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid form. The term is often restricted to the liquid form, commonly called crude oil. But, as a technical term, petroleum also includes natural gas and the viscous or solid form known as bitumen, which is found in tar sands.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting of methane and commonly including varying amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium.
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen
Acid Precipitation
Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. This can include rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic.
Smog
Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word “smog” was coined in the early 20th century, and is a contraction of the words smoke and fog to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odor.
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants.
Chemical Energy
Chemical energy is the energy of chemical substances that is released when they undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances. Some examples of storage media of chemical energy include batteries, food, gasoline, and oxygen gas.
Solar Energy
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy including solar water heating, and solar architecture. … The large magnitude of solar energy available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity.
Wind Power
Wind power or wind energy is the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels.
Hydroelectric Energy
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity produced from hydropower. In 2015, hydropower generated 16.6% of the world’s total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity, and was expected to increase by about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years.
Biomass
Biomass is plant or animal material used as fuel to produce electricity or heat. Examples are wood, energy crops, and waste from forests, yards, or farms. Since biomass technically can be used as a fuel directly, some people use the terms biomass and biofuel interchangeably.
Gasohol
Several common ethanol fuel mixtures are in use around the world. The use of pure hydrous or anhydrous ethanol in internal combustion engines is only possible if the engines are designed or modified for that purpose, and used only in automobiles, light-duty trucks and motorcycles.
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is heat within the earth. The word geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat). Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because heat is continuously produced inside the earth. People use geothermal heat for bathing, to heat buildings, and to generate electricity.
