sci lesson 3: energy from volcanoes

• geothermal system is described schematically as convecting water in the upper crust
• geothermal system has 3 components

  1. heat source
  2. reservoir
  3. fluid
• heat source can be very high temperature
• reservoir is a volume of hot permeable rocks
• geothermal fluid is the carrier that transfer the heat.

  often carry with other chemicals and gas compounds
• fluid convection- the mechanism that governs this geothermal system
• geothermal power plant is like a regular power plant except that no fuel is burned to heat water into steam
• the steam in geothermal power plant is heated ny the eARTH
• production well is drilled into geothermal reservoir

  injection well is also drilled
• hot geothermal fluid flow through pipes to apower plant to use in generating electricity
• hot pressurized geothermal fluid is allowed to generate rapidly
• rotational energy from the turning turbine shaft is utilized to spin magnets inside a large coil and create electrical current
• 2 primary pieces of equipement of geothermal energy

  turbine and generator
• electrical current is sent to a step-up transformer outside the power plant
• voltage is increased in the transformer and electrical current
• dry steam power plant- uses hydrothermal fluids such as steams
• dry steam power plant is the first type to be developed in italy
• dry steam power plant reached the temperature 150c
• dry steam power plant is still being used in the greysers in california
• flash steam power plant- water is pumped from the reservoir under a high pressure
• flash steam power plant temp is 182c
• binary cycle power plant does not use water or steam to turn he turbine blades for power generation
• advantages of geothermal energy

  1. eco-friendly
  2. high reliability
  3. flexibility
  4. minimum land space
  5. cost-effective
  6. helps developing countries flow
• disadvantages of geothermal energy

  1. limited accessibility
  2. financial constraint
  3. possible pollution
• metamorphic rocks - rocks that have undergone a change
• sulfur- mineral found in sedimentary rocks
• sulfur was called brimstone in the bible
• sulfur can be found in its elemental states around volcano vents
• volcano eruption can be explaihned using the following methods

  formation by subduction and formation by distension