EES 1070 exam 3, 4/12/19
What makes up the Earth's atmosphere?
78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% other gases
What percent of the world's commercial energy supply is provided by fossil fuels?
88% (35% oil, 24% natural gas, and 29 percent coal)
What is El Nino?
El Niño or ENSO is an example of such a shift. Occurs when warm surface waters in Pacific Ocean move back and forth between Indonesia and South America.
What powers hurricanes?
Energy released from condensation, Warm ocean waters and thunderstorms fuel power-hungry hurricanes.
What has been the evolution of nuclear power as a major world energy source?
Nuclear energy now provides about 11% of the world's electricity from about 450 power reactors. Nuclear is the world's second largest source of low-carbon power
What is the process that powers nuclear reactors?
Process called fission. This generates heat to produce steam, which is used by a turbine generator to generate electricity.
What is the cause of a temperature inversion in the atmosphere and where in the US is a temperature inversion a major cause of air pollution?
Temperature inversions occur when a stable layer of warm air lies above cooler air, reversing the normal temperature decline with increasing height, and prevents convection currents from dispersing pollutants.
How many nuclear reactors are in the US and how much of our electricity is produced by them?
The USA has 98 operating nuclear power reactors in 30 states, accounting for about 20% of the total electricity generated.
What is the most rapidly growing energy source.?
Wind Power Fastest Growing Energy Source Ready to Displace Coal, Slow Climate Change.
How do the world coal deposits compare to conventional oil and gas resources combined?
World coal deposits are VAST, ten times greater than conventional oil and gas resources combined
What was the high level nuclear waste site that was developed by the US Department of Energy but never used?
Yucca Mountain Nevada in 1987
What is natural gas?
a mixture of methane and other gases
What is the "ozone hole" and where and why does it form?
a region of marked thinning of the ozone layer in high latitudes, chiefly in winter, attributed to the chemical action of chlorofluorcarbons and other atmospheric pollutants. The resulting increase in ultraviolet light at ground level gives rise to an increased risk of skin cancer.
What causes the brown haze in smog?
brown clouds are caused by emissions associated with the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The brown color results from the absorption and scattering of solar radiation by black carbon, fly ash, soil dust particles, and nitrogen dioxide.
What is climate?
long term patterns of temperature and precipitation.
Why did coal replace wood as industrialized countries' major energy source in the nineteenth century?
wood supplies were diminishing
Have humans had to adapt to significant climate changes over the past 100,000 years?
yes
What is a megawatt?
1,000,000 watts
What amount of the oil in a reservoir can be extracted by simple pumping?
Although there are almost one-half million wells in the United States that produce less than 15 barrels of oil per day, their total production remains significant.
What kind of storm or rain pattern accompanies advancing cold vs warm fronts?
As the front moves through, cool, fair weather is likely to follow. Warm front Forms when a moist, warm air mass slides up and over a cold air mass.
Why do deserts occur at about 30 north and south latitude?
At about 30 degree latitudes in both hemispheres (north and south), the air descends. As it warms, the air expands, condensation and precipitation are infrequent.
How does burning coal compare to natural gas with regard to the relative production of CO2?
Burning natural gas, produces nearly half as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy compared with coal. Natural gas is thus considered by many to be a "bridge fuel" that can help nations lower carbon emissions while they transition more slowly from fossil fuels to renewable, carbon-neutral forms of energy.
What is the Kyoto Protocol and what two major developing countries were exempt?
Called on nations to roll back carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions about 5% below 1990 levels by 2012. China and India were both exempt.
Coal mining is a dangerous job. How many coal miners in China were killed in mining accidents in 2008 alone?
China currently has the most dangerous mines, with 91,172 killed in mining accidents in 2008.
What are some examples of surfaces or materials with high or low albedo?
High albedo appear bright, snow reflects most radiation. Low albedo include forests, concrete and dirt.
What is the main cause of carbon monoxide?
Household appliances, such as gas fires, boilers, central heating systems, water heaters, cookers, and open fires which use gas, oil, coal and wood may be possible sources of CO gas
What common metallic air pollutant has dramatically declined in the atmosphere over the past 50 years?
Lead is 2/3 of all metallic air pollution
How does eating locally grown food in season save energy?
Locally grown food does not need to be transported far distances.
How long is high level nuclear reactor waste dangerous?
Most plants have only a 30 year operating life. The debris must be stored as nuclear waste for thousands of years.
What goes on in the various levels of the atmosphere?
Nitrogen gas Oxygen gas Water vapor Aerosols-minute, suspended particles & droplets
What are oil shale and tar sands?
Oil shale is a form of sedimentary rock that contains kerogen, which is released as a petroleum-like liquid when the rock is heated. Tar sands are a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen, which is a heavy hydrocarbon
What happens to much of the ultraviolet light from the as it passes through the atmosphere.?
Ozone absorbs ultraviolet light, which warms upper part of stratosphere.
How does sea level respond to past continental glaciations?
Past ice sheets have retreated rapidly, raising global sea level at rates
How do world coal reserves compare to petroleum reserves?
Petroleum reserves are Commercially Recoverable
What is a Breeder Reactor and what dangerous elements are produced as a byproduct?
Starting at uranium-238, isotopes of plutonium, americium, and curium are all produced. In a fast neutron-breeder reactor, all these isotopes may be burned as fuel.
How does the variation in sun spot numbers observed for hundreds of years relate to climate change on Earth?
Sunspots are storms on the sun's surface that are marked by intense magnetic activity and play host to solar flares and hot gassy ejections from the sun's corona. Scientists believe that the number of spots on the sun cycles over time, reaching a peak—the so-called Solar Maximum—every 11 years or so.
How do the oil reserves in tar sands and oil shales compare to that in conventional oil reserves?
Tar sands and oil shales contain 10X as much as conventional reserves.
What are tar sands and how are they mined and the oil extracted?
Tar sands are composed of sand and shale particles coated with bitumen. They have to be mixed with steam to extract the bitumen, which is then refined.
What is a monsoons and where do they occur and why?
WHAT: seasonal reversal of wind patterns caused by differential heating and cooling rates of oceans and continents WHERE: Subtropical and tropical areas. WHY: Tilt of Earth's axis changes location where the Sun is most intense over the course of the year. Places where the Sun shines most directly have evaporation and convection currents which bring thunderstorms.
What happens to the air masses as a cold front advances?
cold air mass advances into a region occupied by a warm air mass.
What is the most likely disaster in a nuclear power plant?
cooling systems could fail, causing rapid overheating
How has the cost of electricity from nuclear power compared to coal changed from 1970 to 1990?
it increased price because the supply has decreases
What are Milankovitch cycles related to and what do they explain?
periodic shifts in Earth's orbit and tilt which change distribution and intensity of sunlight.
What has been an important limit on the expansion of nuclear power plants?
storage/space, pollution, expensive
Where do spent fuel rods/assemblies go when they are removed from a nuclear reactor?
stored in a water-filled spent fuel pool for a year or more (in some sites 10 to 20 years)
What is solar insolation?
the rate at which sunlight arrives at the earth's surface
What is albedo?
the reflectivity of a surface
What is cogeneration?
the use of a fuel to generate electricity and produce heat
What is the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere?
transmits sunlight while trapping heat.