Earth Sci Long Test

• Nonrenewable Energy Resources

  • Rate of Formation: Slow
  • Limited supply and cannot be replaced quickly
  • Can be used one-time only
  • Once use releases gas
• Renewable Energy Resources

  • Rate of formation: Rapid
  • Resurces are unlimited and does not run out
  • Can be used repeatedly
  • Do not release gas
• Types of Nonrenewable Energy Resources:

  1. Fossil Fuel
  2. Nuclear Energy
• Fossil Fuel:

  • Sources: Remains of Organisms that lived long ago
  • Product: Energy
  • Formation: Organisms Remain (Heat and Pressure) to Fossil Fuel (Combustion) to Release Energy
• Types of Fossil Fuel:

  1. Coal / Solid Fossil Fuel
  2. Petroleum / Liquid Fossil Fuel
  3. Natural Gas
• Coal (Solid Fossil Fuel)

  Sources: Decomposed Plants

  Formation:

  1. Plants Die
  2. Decomposes and mixes with soil
  3. It becomes a layer in the soil
• Petroleum (Liquid Fossil Fuel)

  Sources: Plants and Animal Remains

  Formation:

  1. Plants and Creature Remains
  2. Decomposes and mixes with sand and silt
  3. Due to Heat and Pressure, it turns into oil and natural gas
  4. Today, it is drilled down deep by an oil pump to reach the rock formations containing oil and natural gas deposits
• Natural Gas

  • Methane (CH4)
  • Generally used for cooking and heating homes
  • Burned to generate electricity
• Nuclear Energy:

  Sources: Radioactive elements (Uranium / Plutonium)

  • Extracted through mined ores like: uraninite
• How do Nuclear energy produce electricity?

  By: Nuclear fission
• Nuclear Fission: when atoms are split apart, which releases energy
• Types of Renewable Energy Resources:

  1. Geothermal Energy
  2. Wind Energy
  3. Solar Energy
  4. Hydroelectric Energy
  5. Biomass
• Geothermal Energy

  Sources: Heat below Earth's Surface

  Product: Electricity
• Geothermal Energy

  Sources: Heat below Earth's Surface

  Product: Electricity
• Wind Energy:

  Sources: Movement of air over earth's atmosphere or wind

  Product: Electricity
• Solar Energy:

  Source: Sun

  Product: Electricity
• Hydroelectric Energy

  Sources: Running Water (rivers, streams, ocean tides)

  Product: Electricity
• Biomass

  Sources: Plants, manure, and other organic matter

  Product: Electricity
• Exogenic Process can be Destructive and Constructive process.
• Destructive: Degradation or Denudation Process

  • It lowers the fluvial surface
  • Water eroding a hill
• Constructive: Aggradation Process

  • Increase in Land Elevation
  • Deposition of sediments to create landforms
• Weathering:

  • It is a process of changing solid rocks into sediments on earth's surface
  • Geomorphic Agents: driving force of exogenic process. (WIWGAP)

  1. Wind
  2. Water
  3. Ice
  4. Gravity
  5. Animals
  6. Plants (Biological Agents)
• Erosion: it is the acquisition and transportation of rock debris by geomorphic agents
• Under Erosion:

  Weathering + Erosion = Shape of Earth's Surface
• Types of Weathering: Mechanical Weathering and Chemical Weathering
• Mechanical Weathering: Break rocks into smaller pieces without changing its chemical composition
• Chemical Weathering: Rock is broken by Chemical Reaction
• Frost Wedging: Occurs on cold climate often at high elevation
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Water freezes inside rock and cracks it

  • Mechanical
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Acid rain caused by pollution eat away the rocks and minerals

  • Chemical
• Chemical Reaction = Dissolution

  Calcite / Halite + H2O = Stalagmites / Stalactites
• Chemical Reaction = Dissolution

  Calcite / Halite + H2O = Stalagmites / Stalactites
• Exfoliation (Onion Skin Weathering):

  • Peels away the outer layer of the rock
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Water dissolves mineral in a rock

  • Chemical
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Expansion and Contraction of rock due to heat

  • Mechanical
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Wind chip away tiny bits of rock

  • Mechanical
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Lichens produce weak acid to dissolve rocks

  • Chemical
• Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere and solid air is absorbed by water to form carbonic acid that acts as weak acid.
• Mechanical or Chemical?

  Movement of roots of plants and eventually breaks the rock

  • Mechanical
• Root Wedging: root exert force on the rock and cause the rock to split.