Study Guide

Energy Basics



1. Energy is essentially something, anything that can power something to be of use. There are many forms of energy and thus the idea of what energy is can be very broad.

2. Potential energy is stored energy. The ability to do work but isn't used at the moment.
Chemical - Energy that is stored in the bond of molecules, in the bonds that hold atoms together.
Nuclear - Using a chemical reaction on a nuclear scale to produce large amounts of energy. Energy that holds the nucleus together.
Gravitational - The energy of position or place. (guy on a bike at the top of a hill)
Stored Mechanical - Energy stored in objects using the object of force. (like a rubber band)

3. Kinetic Energy - Energy from some kind of motion
Electrical - Movement of electrons through a conducting substance.
Radiant - Electro magnetic energy moving in waves.
Thermal - Heat, vibration of molecules.
Motion - Movement of objects when a force is applied (hitting a baseball with a bat)
Sound - Energy is the movement of energy through substances. Vibration.

4. Hydro - Using the flow of water to power a generator to produce electricity.
Solar - Harnessing the suns rays to be used for electricity.
Wind - With use of large turbines in windy areas, catching the wind to spin a generator to make energy.
Nuclear - Using a chemical reaction on a nuclear scale to produce large amounts of energy. Energy that holds the nucleus together.
Biomass - Breaking down of every day items into smaller and smaller piece until we can use them for energy.

5. Energy efficiency - very simply energy efficiency is using energy efficiently and with good reason.



Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Resources


1. Hydro - Using the flow of water to power a generator to produce electricity.
Solar - Harnessing the suns rays to be used for electricity.
Wind - With use of large turbines in windy areas, catching the wind to spin a generator to make energy.
Nuclear - Using a chemical reaction on a nuclear scale to produce large amounts of energy. Energy that holds the nucleus together.
Biomass - Breaking down of every day items into smaller and smaller piece until we can use them for energy.
Fossil Fuels - Millions of years of dead animals and plants being compressed and decomposing until they turn to oil

2. Fossil Fuels are basically just dead organisms that have been compressed and smashed for millions of years.

3. Oil - obtained by drilling deep into the ground to tap into a source of oil and pumping it out of the ground. Sometimes they are pumped from sea and sometimes they are pumped from the ground.
Hydro - Obtained by holding water behind a dam and releasing little bits at a time to turn a turbine to power a generator to produce energy
Solar - Obtained by taking the suns rays and turning it into energy.
Wind - Using the wind in the air to turn turbines that are high above the ground to power generators
Nuclear - Obtained by splitting an atom and harnessing the energy that it creates.
Biomass - Obtained by anything that was at one point living broken down to the point that we can use it for energy.

5. Each one of these sources can be used to power anything electrical, oil is more used for machinery than power however. All the other forms of energy produce electricity through means of some kind of generator.

6. Fossil Fuels - unbelievably cheap and abundant
Hydro - Efficient and renewable
Solar - There will always be a sun, its self sustaining
Wind - requires minimal building and is pleasant to look at while still producing a lot of energy.
Nuclear - Massive amounts of energy
Biomass - It uses things that we would think of as trash

7. Fossil Fuels - Sources are running out and they emit a toxic gas that destroys our ozone layer of the earth
Hydro - If the dam breaks, it causes disaster and to build a dam, it takes years and the area around the dam must be vacated before construction which messes with the ecosystem of the animals that currently live there
Solar - Doesn't gather energy at night or in the shade. Its very costly to make solar panels
Wind - Doesn't produce as much energy as the other ways of renewable energy because it's not always windy
Nuclear - Threat of a nuclear meltdown. Which basically means anything within a 5 mile radius could be destroyed and the radiation would cause the land to be inhabitable for years in the future.
Biomass - Costly

8. America uses almost double the energy of every other country.

QQC China

"Compared with conventional energy, wind power is still an emerging industry in china and faces ongoing challenges. Wind power development is restricted by the capacity of the electrical grid which continues to lag."

I find it interesting that in china, wind power is just now emerging and in america they are all over the place, fields filled with wind powered turbines and different forms of energy sources created only from wind. I always thought of china as being almost if not more advanced than we are. it's weird to know that we are being a bit more proactive than they are. Why is it taking them so long?

Energy Discussion

-Solar
-Hydro
-Wind
-Nuclear

Benefits of current form of energy: It works, and has been working for years, its very compatible with everything that we need to use it for.

Drawbacks: It’s running out very quickly, its costing more and more to run the world on that type of energy, one of the reasons is the war in iraq and it making it harder to find oil and more costly to take it from that part of the world.

If we as a society started caring less about money and more about the environment in the long run then our need for the current source of energy would be obsolete. The world is being run like a business, to run a business you have to invest in your business for a long time before you can start making profit, so if we started investing in our world with more solar plants, nuclear power plants, hydro energy, and wind energy then we would be very poor for the now but in the long run it will help our economy. You have to spend money to make money.

People commit themselves to being eco friendly so they can be smug to their neighbors while “saving the planet”, and being a productive member of society. It also helps them save money by spending a lot of money.

“I would get solar power but, right now its not quite in the budget”

-My Dad

A Day Without Electronics...Sorta

Well, for my single day without electronics, it was a very simple task. I chose a day that I was in Catalina when I already had no electronics. I was there for three days, I might as well get three times the points, how does that sound! While I was there, my entertainment included swimming in the pacific, kayaking, snorkeling, playing cards, and sharing many stories with my classmates about different events that have made people feel stupid or scared. There was no way to receive the news because there was no mail, no TV, and no newspaper. The only news that I was aware of was the tsunami in Japan because that was the biggest topic of discussion at the time. Our only form of communication was yelling out really loud and hoping that the person you want to talk to can hear you and can yell loud enough to respond if they aren’t already right next to you. My most difficult gadget that I had to give up was my cell phone because I’m a teenager, my entire life is in my right pocket. The easiest thing I gave up was my iPod because I was already too busy to use it. My only surprise was that I wasn’t very bothered at all by not having any of my electronics. It was just like camping, not a big deal. It might be cheating a little bit that I was already deprived of my electronics anyway.
Once I was back to civilization, I loved having heating in my sleep. For the whole trip I had to sleep outside in a tent. Every single night, it was freezing cold and it made it hard to sleep. As soon as I got home, I was able to sleep through the whole night. I might not have been living in the year 1983, but I know that I would much rather live in the time that I was born into.

Starting essay

San Diego Public School foods have been ever changing with the different organizations that have risen to take on the challenge of trying to provide quality healthy foods for students at the elementary school level, middle school level, and high school level. Numerous different organizations have been started, trying to be the best, some to provide it for kids who have a rough life at home who can’t really afford it, some trying to make food more nutritious for the kids. From a few decades ago compared to now, I’d say that they have done a really good job of it.
A few years ago, when I was in elementary school, they served us food that tasted like rubber, we even had to question if what we were eating actually came from anything natural or was it glob with paint on it. There was no choice on what food to eat, they just gave everyone the exact same thing. The only real thing was the milk but only a small bit of it was given out. In 2002 the school district wanted to make things better for the students so they started given the kids choices on what to eat in elementary schools and supplied salad bars for kids who wanted to eat a little healthier.
Up until sometime in the mid 20th century kids even were sent home to eat lunch. There was no such thing as a “school lunch” maybe a snack or something but not a full on lunch. Kids who weren’t able to go home for lunch (because of distance) had to bring theirs to school in a pale.

Blue Gold

While watching, Blue Gold there was number of thoughts that went through my head. What happened to start this "crisis" and if the cooperations are selling all this water for as much profit, then how are we in a recession. it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Lets start out with why this all got started. what I got from the film was that industrialization covered the land and didn't allow the water to soak back into the earth and continue the cycle. Apparently we are using too much of the water, I find it to be a really simple solution. Theres a million things that we are doing as a society that is wasteful to our water sources. For one, everyone insists on washing their cars at home, at car washes, the water gets recycled and used again to wash another car. People take hour long showers when it only takes 10 or 15 minutes to get clean. Water parks only serve the purpose of wasting water. Just almost everything we do wastes water, its ridiculous.

Second of all, my question is why the hell are we in a recession if companies like that make so much money, wouldn't it make the economy go up from all the sales. Everyone needs water and so many companies sell it now for so much money and every company in the world uses water in even the smallest way. I feel like so many of the worlds problems could simply be fixed if people would just have a heart and think of the right thing to do instead of what money says to do.

QQC

"A normal pig would fight off his molester but a demoralized pig has stopped caring "learned helplessness" is the psychological term and its not uncommon in confinement operations where tens of thousands of hogs spend their entire lives ignorant of sunshine or earth or straw crowded together beneath a metal roof upon metal slats suspended over a manure pit." I find it interesting that animals learn from birth depending on the living condition that they are put in. Its curious to see that a pig would act in such a way under conditions but merely born in a different location can give it an entirely different opinion on life.