APES Unit 6 – Chapters 19-21: Energy and Mining
Chapter 19 Vocabulary
1. NPR-A
11.strip mining
21. biogenic gas
31. R/P ratio
3. fossil fuel
12. mountaintop
removal
13. turbine
22. thermogenic
gas
23. kerogen
32. Hubbert’s
peak
33. tar sands
4. electricity
14. generator
34. oil shale
5. aerobic
decomposition
6. anaerobic
decomposition
7. net energy
15. scrubber
24. coalbed
methane
25. LNG
16. peat
26. petroleum
17. lignite
8. EROI
18. bituminous
9. coal
19. anthracite
27. primary
extraction
28. secondary
extraction
29. refining
36. methane
hydrate
37. acid drainage
10. subsurface
mining
20. methane
30. distillation
2. ANWR
35. pyrolysis
41. spoils (in
class)
42. ore (in
class)
43. gangue (in
class)
44. tailings (in
class)
45. CAFÉ
standards
46.
cogeneration
38. OPEC
39. Strategic
Petroleum
Reserve
40. overburden
(in class)
Chapter 19 Text Study Guide Questions
Section 1 – Sources of Energy, Coal and Mining – p.541 – 549, 560-561 (Coal mining section
only) in text AND Biozone Workbook p. 147, 159-160
1. What does NPR-A stand for? What is the purpose of the NPR-A? How big is it? Where
exactly is it?
2. What does ANWR stand for? What is the purpose of the ANWR? How big is it? Where
exactly is it, especially in relation to the NPR-A?
3. What type of energy comes from Earth’s core?
4. How does the sun provide us with most of our energy? Know both direct and indirect
energy sources that come from the sun.
5. How are fossil fuels formed? What are the three major types of fossil fuels?
6. What was society’s dominant source of energy before the Industrial Revolution?
7. How long does it take fossil fuels to form? Are they a renewable or nonrenewable
resource?
8. Are fossil fuels formed from aerobic or anaerobic processes?
9. (Table 19.2) ID the country that contains the largest percentage of global oil reserves. Do
the same for natural gas and coal.
10. When calculating an EROI, what constitutes the “energy invested?” Be able to give
examples. Why have EROIs declined?
11. What is the world’s most abundant fossil fuel?
12. (Figure 19.5) What are the main differences between the types of coal? Be able to list them
in order based on their differences.
13. Describe how the use of coal has changed throughout human history.
14. What two major methods are used to harvest coal? Which sub-method is common in the
Appalachian Mountains?
15. Which type of coal has the greatest energy content per unit volume?
1 16. List impurities found in coal. How do these impurities impact the environment when coal is
burned?
17. (Science Behind the Story) Be able to sketch/describe how a fuel like coal becomes
electricity. Also explain each component that converts the heat energy in coal into
electricity.
18. (Science Behind the Story) What do scrubbers do? Name three types of air pollution the
scrubbers can remove from power plant emissions. Note that the burning of coal can
produce solid waste as well as air pollution.
19. (p.560-561) Explain what acid drainage is, how it happens, and its impact on organisms.
20. (p.560-561) Explain mountaintop removal’s impact on the environment.
21. (p.560-561) Explain mining’s impact on miners.
22. (Biozone WB p.147) What does Hubbert’s Curve tell us about the availability of
nonrenewable resources?
23. (Biozone WB p.147) Besides coal, what other specific minerals are the target of mining?
24. (Biozone WB p.159-160) What is overburden?
25. (Biozone WB p.159-160) How does surface mining impact the environment? How are
surface mines restored, and how does the restoration compare to the originally-existing
environment?
26. (Biozone WB p.159-160) Compare and contrast the advantages/disadvantages of surface
and subsurface mining.
27. (Biozone WB p.159-160) What gas is the natural result of any combustion reaction,
including the burning of coal? Infer this from the chart given on p.160.
28. (Biozone WB p.159-160) Be able to answer Question #5. Your textbook guided reading
should help you answer this question. Also think about how coal may be used in developing
countries vs. developed countries.
Cartoon Guide Reading Questions
Reading: p.68, 70, 137-158
1. What is the first law of thermodynamics?
2. What is the second law of thermodynamics?
3. What are the two ways to think about energy?
4. What is the equation for calculating energy?
5. What property of a steam engine made it different than any machine that came before it?
6. What science unites the two ways to think about energy?
7. In the 1700s, what replaced wood as the main source of fuel?
8. What is efficiency? What is overall efficiency?
9. What is the typical efficiency of an automobile engine?
10. What is the typical efficiency of a lightbulb?
11. Which takes more energy to manufacture, aluminum or steel?
12. How much more or less energy does Europe use when compared to the United States?
13. List 3 ways to reduce energy consumption.
14. List 3 problems associated with nuclear power.
15. List 3 sources of electricity other than the use of fossil or nuclear fuels.
2 Section 2 – Natural Gas, Petroleum and Environmental Impacts (p.549 – 568)
1. What is the fastest-growing fossil fuel in use today?
2. Which fossil fuel is the “cleanest” to burn? Why?
3. What is the primary component of natural gas (both name and chemical formula)?
4. Compare and contrast biogenic and thermogenic gas.
5. What is the source material for both natural gas and crude oil?
6. How is methane linked to climate change? How can mining and drilling operations avoid
releasing methane into the atmosphere?
7. How do landfills produce natural gas?
8. How can natural gas be shipped long distances?
9. Which country has both large natural gas deposits and leads the world in gas production?
10. Understand how hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) works, and that it is only used in areas
where natural gas is no longer easily accessible.
11. Where does most natural gas and oil drilling take place?
12. What is another name for crude oil? What are the general components of crude oil?
13. (Table 19.5) Which country leads the world in crude oil production? Consumption?
14. Understand the difference between total oil that exists in an area, and the oil that is
recoverable with current technology.
15. How long would the oil in ANWR supply the US at its current rate of consumption?
16. What is the process used to extract oil? Your understanding of this process should include
exploratory drilling, primary extraction and secondary extraction.
17. (Science Behind the Story) What is the method that is used to refine crude oil? What are
some of the components that are found in crude oil?
18. Who predicted that US oil production would peak in 1970? Did this prediction turn out to be
true?
19. What is the name of the hydrocarbon compound found in oil/tar sands?
20. How are oil sands harvested? How is the sand refined?
21. What is the hydrocarbon compound found in oil shale?
22. What is the process used to extract liquid petroleum from oil shale?
23. What is the name given to natural gas trapped in ice?
24. How does the use of fossil fuels affect the carbon cycle?
25. What is the primary gas released during combustion? What are other pollutants released
when fossil fuels are combusted? Which heavy metal is associated with the burning of
coal?
26. Which part of a car cuts down on exhaust pollution?
27. Understand how fossil fuels impact human health and water/air quality.
28. How does oil/gas extraction alter the environment?
29. How does fossil fuel use/production influence a country’s economy?
30. What is OPEC? Where are most OPEC countries located?
31. What are CAFÉ standards?
32. What is cogeneration? Be able to recognize examples of cogeneration.
33. (Figure 19.12) What is a hybrid car? How does it work?
34. Energy conservation methods may not be able to appear as multiple-choice questions.
However, be able to recall some specific examples of ways to reduce electricity (thus fossil
fuel) usage for use in a FRQ.
3 Chapter 20 Vocabulary
1. nuclear energy 7. moderator
2. nuclear fission
8. control rod
3. radioisotope
9. containment building
4. uranium-235
10. breeder reactor
5. half-life
11. nuclear fusion
6. fuel rod
12. IAEA
13. Three Mile Island
14. meltdown
15. Chernobyl
16. WHO
17. Yucca Mountain
18. biomass energy
19. biofuel
20. ethanol
21. biodiesel
22. co-firing
23. hydropower
Chapter 20 Text Study Questions
Section 1 – Nuclear Power (p.573 – 588)
1. What energy source provides the globe with most of its electricity?
2. How are conventional energy alternatives largely different from fossil fuels?
3. Name one country that has significantly lessened its fossil fuel use.
4. What type of pollution is NOT produced by nuclear power plants?
5. (Table 20.1) Which country is the top producer of nuclear power?
6. How does nuclear fission create energy?
7. What are the two major elements used in nuclear fission?
8. What is an isotope’s half-life?
9. What must be done to make mined uranium ore useful in a nuclear power plant? What is
the minimum concentration of uranium necessary to be useful in a power plant?
10. What substance in a nuclear reactor slows down bombarding neutrons? Which device
removes neutrons entirely from the process, converting fission from an exponential reaction
to a linear one?
11. Contrast breeder and burner (conventional) reactors.
12. ID a naturally-occurring, perpetual fusion “reactor” you are exposed to every day.
13. ID 2 major chemical reasons why it is difficult to create a fusion reaction on earth.
14. (Figure 20.5) Be able to describe the components of a nuclear power plant, especially the
moderator, control rods, primary/secondary/cooling loops of water, containment building.
Notice where electricity generation takes place, and what the cooling towers put out into the
atmosphere.
15. Contrast environmental impacts of nuclear and coal-fired power plants.
16. What is the largest nuclear power plant disaster in the US? In the world? How were the
disasters different?
17. How is nuclear waste currently disposed of?
18. Describe why Yucca Mountain is a good place to build a national nuclear waste storage
facility.
19. ID one economic reason why nuclear power plants are not often built currently in the US.
Section 2 – Biomass and Hydroelectric Power (p.588 – 598)
1. What is biomass? What are examples and nonexamples of biomass used for energy?
2. Make a connection between a country’s classification (developing/developed) and how it
uses biomass for fuel. Also connect a country’s classification and overall use of biomass for
energy.
3. How is ethanol generally made? How is it use as an energy source?
4. ID the vegetable most often grown in the US to produce ethanol. What is the main ethanol
source in Brazil?
5. ID the country currently running the most automobiles on ethanol.
6. What is biodiesel made from?
7. Identify ways that biomass can be used directly and indirectly to produce electricity.
4 8. What is the main environmental benefit to using biomass as an energy source?
9. How is fossil fuel use still a part of biomass production?
10. ID four environmental drawbacks to using biomass for energy.
11. How does the EROI for corn-based ethanol compare to the EROI for fossil fuels?
12. (Figure 20.23) Describe how a dam produces energy.
13. (Figure 20.24) Describe how the run-of-river technique produces energy.
14. ID a situation in which a run-of-river setup will be more useful for energy production than a
traditional dam.
15. ID pros and cons to using hydropower.
16. Which country is the top producer of hydropower?
17. What is the name and location of the world’s largest dam?
Chapter 21 Vocabulary
1. passive solar
6. PV cell
energy
2. active solar energy
7. n-type layer
3. thermal mass
4. solar panel
8. p-type layer
9. net metering
5. power tower
10. wind turbine
11. wind farm
16. electrolysis
12. NIMBY
17. fuel cell (definition
must be derived)
18. magma
13. geothermal energy
14. ground source heat
pump
15. OTEC
Chapter 21 Text Study Questions (p.603 – 625)
1. Name three non-fossil fuel energy sources currently used in Iceland.
2. (Figure 21.1) Which two renewable resources are most often used worldwide for energy?
3. (Figure 21.2) What are the three “new renewable” energy sources that are the focus of this
chapter?
4. Contrast passive and active solar heating.
5. Explain how the principles used in solar cookers can be used to generate electricity. What
devices are used to concentrate sunlight? What is the name of the energy receiver? Where
do you think these facilities would work best?
6. Explain how a photovoltaic cell works. Does it need a turbine/generator to create electricity?
Use Figure 21.7 to enhance your understanding of the process.
7. What types of countries are most interested in solar power?
8. How can solar power use benefit the environment?
9. Describe how the average homeowner can make money using personal solar panels.
10. What are the two primary drawbacks to using current solar technology?
11. Explain how wind energy becomes electricity. Use Figure 21.11 as a reference.
12. Describe what a wind farm is and how the individual turbines are distributed.
13. ID one benefit and one drawback to using wind energy.
14. How does the EROI of wind power compare to more conventional energy sources?
15. How do wind turbines threaten local wildlife?
16. Describe how geothermal heat can be used as an energy source. Identify at least two ways
to use the properties of the earth for energy purposes.
17. ID one benefit and one drawback to using geothermal energy.
18. Explain how electricity is generated from tidal energy. Use Figures 21.17 and 21.18 as
references.
19. Explain how electricity is generated from OTEC.
5 20. Explain how electricity is generated from hydrogen. What is the waste gas produced by this
process? Use Figure 21.19 as a reference.
21. How is hydrogen created for the creation of electricity? Can hydrogen fuel be termed
completely “clean”?
22. ID one benefit and one drawback to using any of the sources of power identified in this
chapter.
Biozone Workbook Pages
p. 154-175, 191-201
• Most of these pages are intended for your reference, to help you review for the unit exam.
• Assigned problems: p.155 #1-3; p.156 #2; p.157 #2; p.158 #4-6; p.160 #2-5; p.162 #1, 4;
p.164 #2-3; p.166 #1, 3; p.167 #1; p.168 #4; p.169 #1; p.170 #1; p.171 #1; p.173 #2; p.174
#4; p.191 #1c; p.193 #2-3; p.196 #4b; p.198 #2-4; p.200 #1-3, 5; p.201 #2
Possible FRQs for Unit 6 Test
1. You are building an addition on a house. You need to decide whether to install a heating
unit which uses natural gas or one that uses electricity. Municipal electricity is purchased in
kWh at a unit price of $0.11/kWh (1 kWh = 3300 Btu). Natural gas is purchased in Therms
at a unit price of $1.20/Therm (1 Therm = 100,000 Btu). It takes 1,000,000 Btu to heat the
building per month.
a. Calculate the monthly cost to heat using electrical heaters. (2 points)
b. Calculate the monthly cost to heat using natural gas. (2 points)
c. Which choice would make the most financial sense? How much money would be
saved? (1 point)
d. Name and discuss ONE environmental impact of using coal to generate electricity for
heat and ONE environmental impact of using natural gas for heat. (4 points)
e. Name ONE environmental impact of the extraction of either source. (1 point)
2. Each year, due to growing population and energy demands, the United States faces
increasing dependency on conventional fossil fuels. However, in the past few decades
renewable energy has begun to expand in both residential and commercial sectors of the
United States.
a. i. The US uses roughly 4.0 million Gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year in electricity (1 GWh
= 1,000,000 kWh). Currently 50% of our electricity comes from coal. If every 1.0 kWh of
coal burned releases 2 pounds of carbon dioxide, how much carbon dioxide is released
from burning coal for electricity each year in the US? (2 points)
ii. If coal usage can be reduced by 15% by utilizing solar energy, how much carbon
dioxide will be saved from entering the atmosphere each year? (2 points)
iii. Describe several advantages to using wind energy. (2 points)
b. Define either active solar heating or passive solar heating and give ONE example of the
heating method you chose. (2 points)
c. Give ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage to the heating method you described
above. (2 points)
6