Introduction
Energy Supply, World, combined resources by which the nations of the world attempt to meet their energy needs. Energy is the basis of industrial civilization; without energy, modern life would cease to exist. During the 1970s the world began a painful adjustment to the vulnerability of energy supplies .
Sources of Energy Hydroelectric Power Many
countries and states draw waterpower for energy. Development of dam systems is both expensive and potentially damaging to the environment, so dams are generally carefully planned, financed, and managed by the government.
Fossil Fuels • Energy-rich substances that have formed from longburied plants and microorganisms. Fossil fuels, which include petroleum, coal, and natural gas, provide most of the energy that powers modern industrial society. The gasoline that fuels our cars, the coal that powers many electrical plants, and the natural gas that heats our homes are all fossil fuels. • FORMATION OF FOSSIL FUELS •
Fossil fuels formed from ancient organisms that died and were buried under layers of accumulating sediment.
Coal Formation
The coal we find today formed from generations of plants that died in ancient tropical swamps and accumulated on the swamp bottoms. The plant material first formed a compact organic material called peat. As layers of sediment gradually accumulated over the peat, the pressure and heat exerted by the thickening layers gradually drove out the moisture and increased the carbon content of the peat, forming coal. .
Petroleum Formation • Petroleum formed chiefly from ancient, microscopic plants and bacteria that lived in the ocean and saltwater seas. When these microorganisms died and settled to the seafloor, they mixed with sand and silt to form organic-rich mud. As layers of sediment accumulated over this organic ooze, the mud was gradually heated and slowly compressed into shale or mudstone, chemically transforming the organic material into petroleum and natural gas. • Sometimes, the petroleum and natural gas would slowly fill the tiny holes within nearby porous rocks, which geologists call reservoir rocks. Because these porous rocks were usually filled with water, the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons (which are less dense and lighter than water) migrated upward, through the earth’s crust, sometimes for long distances
Sources of Energy • Biofuel, any solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel produced from organic (once-living) matter. Biofuel is produced either directly from plants or indirectly from industrial, commercial, domestic, or agricultural wastes. There are three main methods for the development of biofuels: the burning of dry organic wastes (such as household refuse, industrial and agricultural wastes, straw, wood, and peat); the fermentation of wet wastes (such as animal dung) in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas (containing up to 60 percent methane), or the fermentation of sugarcane or corn to produce alcohol and esters; and energy forestry (producing fast-growing wood for fuel).
• Biomass, contraction for biological mass, the amount of living material provided by a given area of the earth's surface. The term is most familiar from discussions of biomass energy, that is, the fuel energy that can be derived directly or indirectly from biological sources. Biomass energy from wood, crop residues, and dung remains the primary source of energy in developing regions.
• Coal, a combustible organic rock composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Coal is burned to produce energy and is used to manufacture steel. It is also an important source of chemicals used to make medicine, fertilizers, pesticides, and other products. Coal comes from ancient plants buried over millions of years in Earth’s crust, its outermost layer. Coal, petroleum, natural gas, and oil shale are all known as fossil fuels because they come from the remains of ancient life buried deep in the crust. • Electric Power Systems, components that transform other types of energy into electrical energy and transmit this energy to a consumer. The production and transmission of electricity is relatively efficient and inexpensive, although unlike other forms of energy, electricity is not easily stored and thus must generally be used as it is being produced
• Nuclear Energy, energy released during the splitting or fusing of atomic nuclei. The energy of any system, whether physical, chemical, or nuclear, is manifested by the system’s ability to do work or to release heat or radiation. The total energy in a system is always conserved, but it can be transferred to another system or changed in form. Nuclear Power Plant
Physics Of Energy • Conservation Laws, in physics, any of a group of laws stating that in a closed system that undergoes a physical process, certain measurable quantities remain constant. Many consider conservation laws the most fundamental laws of physics • Combustion, process of rapid oxidation or burning of a substance with simultaneous evolution of heat and, usually, light. In the case of common fuels, the process is one of chemical combination with atmospheric oxygen to produce as the principal products carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and water, together with products such as sulfur dioxide that may be generated by the minor constituents of the fuel (see Chemical Reaction; Fuel).
Energy • Energy, capacity of matter to perform work as the result of its motion or its position in relation to forces acting on it. Energy associated with motion is known as kinetic energy, and energy related to position is called potential energy. Thus, a swinging pendulum has maximum potential energy at the terminal points; at all intermediate positions it has both kinetic and potential energy in varying proportions. Energy exists in various forms, including mechanical (see Mechanics), therma Heat (physics), in physics, transfer of energy from one part of a substance to another, or from one body to another by virtue of a difference in temperature.
• Kinetic Energy, energy possessed by an object, resulting from the motion of that object. The magnitude of the kinetic energy depends on both the mass and the speed of the object according to the equation E = ymv2 • where m is the mass of the object and v2 is its speed multiplied by itself. The value of E can also be derived from the equation • E = (ma)d • where a is the acceleration applied to the mass, m, and d is the distance through which a acts. The relationships between kinetic and potential energy and among the concepts of force, distance, acceleration, and energy can be illustrated by the lifting and dropping of an object. When the object is lifted from a surface a vertical force is applied to the object. As this force acts through a distance, energy is transferred to the object. The energy associated with an object held above a surface is termed potential energy. If the object is dropped, the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy
Energy Crisis
Energy Crisis Gas Lines During the energy crisis of the 1970s, people frequently had to wait in long lines to purchase gasoline. The shortage was caused largely by an embargo imposed by oil-producing nations.
Sources • Pictures from Encarta and internet. • Content from internet and encyclopedia.