energy -frog book notes
chemical energy-all about losing or gaining electrons, breaking bonds (e.g. sugar, octane in gasoline, etc.)
nuclear energy-breaking apart or joining nuclei (protons, neutrons): joining is fusion (newer), breaking is fission
Easy way to remember these: fusion is usually lighter elements like Hydrogen or Helium joining, while fission is usually heavy elements like Uranium or Plutonium splitting into smaller bits
Combustion-combining with an oxidizer, usually oxygen, but any oxidizer (chlorine etc.) as well
Hydrocarbons: usually CnHx + O2 -> CO2 and H2O (you may see these in chem with suffixes like -ane: octane, butane, propane)
Incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons => CO
Food is CHO (also N), when burned by body (using oxygen), creates CO2 and H2O, stores energy as ATP, and others
Energy efficiency: (energy out/energy in)x 100 (always a percentage)
Evolution of fuels:
Wood: renewable, hard to find, limited growth rate, but fine for small populations
Coal: non-renewable, stored energy from fossil plants, more concentrated energy, easier to transport, hotter burning (to create steam, melt iron)
various grades based on source and degree of decomposition/reduction (peat,lignite, bituminous(tar), anthracite)
Oil/natural gas: non-renewable, stored energy from swamps and marine organisms, discovered in Pennsylvania in 1870, we used whale blubber before this.
both of these can be distilled into smaller/larger fractions, and these fractions can be later combined to make heavier compounds:
Oil-> naptha, kerosene, diesel, gasoline, tar (bitumen), plastics, etc. <question: why is gasoline more expensive here in Hawaii?>
Natural gas -> methane->butane->pentane-> denser HC, fertilizers, plastics, etc.
See also LNG (liquified nat gas)
<question: look up the price of crude oil. notice the names and the trends. what is “sweet” oil?>
Electricity generation: coal (steam), diesel (only in Hawaii, direct or steam), nat gas (steam or direct turbine), nuclear (steam)
Think of ships, this is where most of our electrical generation technology was developed
Hubbert Peak, Saud (see opening credits to “The Kingdom”), Saudi Arabia, geopolitical implications
Fracking: Nat gas game changer: water impact, price of oil, change in electrical grid (smarter, faster, more nimble)
others: oil shale, oil sands (Alberta), methane hydrates
ERoEI: Energy Return on Energy Invested
http://physics.hpa.edu/physics/apenvsci/videos/ERoEI.mov
Salt Audio clip: James Woolsey
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128127191
17.3-Fossil fuel hazards
Look up how many mine deaths per day in China
greenhouse gases-CO2 and methane (CH4)
air pollution: SOx, NOx, Pb, heavy metals (worst with coal, lowest with nat gas)
water pollution: esp. with fracking
oil spills, coal ash accidents (Kingston)
Fly ash illegal in Europe (why?)
Acid drainage-mines (see also metal mining, Butte, MT)
Geopolitical issues-imagine if we did not care about oil countries since 1930…
Energy Conservation
e2 car segment
http://physics.hpa.edu/physics/apenvsci/videos/e2_videos/e2%20energy/3%20paving%20the%20way.mp4
17.4 Nuclear power
Chemical energy: electrons and bonds
Nuclear energy: protons and neutrons
Fission: heavy stuff (Uranium, Plutonium) to smaller stuff (Kr, Ba, etc.)
Fusion: light stuff (Hydrogen, Helium) to heavier stuff (Lithium, etc.)
Discovered by enrico Fermi (Chicago) around 1940, first used for heat, then bombs (WWII)
Next, used in nuclear subs (why?)
Electrical power on land copied from subs (why is this crazy?)
Fission: U235 + 1 neutron -> 3 neutrons, Ba 141 and Kr 92
Note: 1 neutron in, 3 neutrons out
If we capture 2 out of 3, this is sustaining reaction (factor 1.0)
If we capture 3, then it stops
If we capture 1, the reaction will increase
Moderators capture extra neutrons and slow them into “thermal neutrons” (control rods also)
Bomb: make it all happen really, really fast
Power plant: make it slow down, capture the neutrons into thermal neutrons, make steam, then electricity
***make sure you can draw ALL of the parts of a nuclear power plant***
Good stuff: few greenhouse gases
Bad stuff: waste, pollution, fallout, limited supply of Uranium (Thorium possible)
Bad ones: 99 so far since 1945:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents
Kyshtym/Chelyabinsk disaster 1957 Plutonium (level 6 disaster)
Windscale fire (GB level 5, 1957)
Navy reactor accident Idaho SL-1 (1961)
Various Russian submarine accidents (secret) K-19, K-11, K-27, K-140, K-429, K-222, K-314, K-431
Three Mile Island (1979) see video clip from film China Syndrome
Goiania accident 1987 (Cobalt) also Mexico city, Zaragoza, Morocco, Costa Rica
Chernobyl 1986 (level 7)
Fukushima Daiichi 2010 (level 7)
You might also want to look up "Broken Arrows"-very scary
What common theme, how dangerous, how could we avoid these in the future?
***be prepared to cite at least three of these, and explain what happened and why****
Fusion: LLL (look this up)
***Make sure you understand and can replicate the Coal energy graphic at the end of ch. 17***
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