Chapter 16 Vocab List
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18 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Fossil fuel | Products of partial or complete decomposition of plants and animals that occur as petroleum, coal, or natural gas as a result of exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over millions of years. |
| Net energy | Total amount of useful energy available from an energy resource over its lifetime, minus the amount of energy used/wasted in finding/processing/transporting it to users. |
| Petroleum | Thick liquid consisting mostly of hydrocarbon compounds - it's extracted from underground accumulations and sent to refineries to be converted into fuels and petrochemicals. |
| Petrochemicals | Chemicals obtained by refining petroleum - e.g. plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, synthetic fibers, paints, medicines, etc. |
| OPEC | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - a group of 12 countries that collectively try to maintain stability of oil prices and sufficient supply to meet the demand of oil consuming nations - while ensuring steady income to its member nations. |
| Oil sand | A mixture of clay, sand, water, and thick tar-like material found underground. |
| ANWR | Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - the largest refuge in the U.S. covering nearly 20 million acres in northeastern Alaska. Some believe it contains significant petroleum deposits. |
| Oil shale | Fine-grained rock containing various amounts of solid hydrocarbon compounds. |
| Natural gas | Underground deposits of gases consisting of mostly methane and some propane and butane. |
| Lignite coal | Lowest grade of coal containing only about 30% carbon. |
| Bituminous coal | Medium-grade coal containing about 70% carbon. |
| Anthracite coal | Highest grade of coal containing about 95% carbon. Some of the largest deposits in the world are in eastern PA. |
| Syngas | Gaseous fuel containing mostly methane produced from solid coal. |
| Containment vessel | A steel/concrete reinforced building that surrounds a nuclear reactor core. |
| Meltdown | The accidental melting of a nuclear reactor core which allows radioactive nuclear fuel to penetrate into the ground, groundwater supplies, and the air as steam when the groundwater vaporizes on contact with the molten radioactive fuel. |
| Three Mile Island | Nuclear reactor site near Harrisburg, PA of the worst nuclear reactor accident in the U.S. (1979). Consisted of a partial meltdown of one reactor at the site. |
| Chernobyl | Nuclear reactor site of the worst nuclear accident in history (northern Ukraine). Large radioactive plumes of smoke were emitted when one of the reactors exploded and materials burned at the site in 1986. |
| Fukushima | Nuclear reactor site in northeastern Japan where 3 reactors experienced complete meltdown when cooling systems malfunctioned as a result of the large earthquake and tsunami that struck the area in 2011. The accident is still being assessed. |
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