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    Chapter 1: Energy - What Is It?

    Energy causes things to happen around us.Look out the window.

    During the day, the sun gives out light and heat energy. At night, streetlamps use electrical energy to light our way.

    When a car drives y, it is eing powered y gasoline, a type o! storedenergy.

     "he !ood we eat contains energy. We use that energy to work and play.

    We learned the defnition o! energy in the introduction#"Energy Is the Ability to Do Work."

    Energy can e !ound in a numer o! di$erent !orms. It can e chemicalenergy, electrical energy, heat %thermal energy&, light %radiant energy&,mechanical energy, and nuclear energy.

     'tored and (oving EnergyEnergy makes everything happen and can e divided into two types#

    • 'tored energy is called potential energy.

    • (oving energy is called kinetic energy.

    With a pencil, try this e)ample to know the two types o! energy.

    *ut the pencil at the edge o! the desk and push it o$ to the +oor. "hemoving pencil uses kinetic energy.

    ow, pick up the pencil and put it ack on the desk. ou used your own

    energy to li!t and move the pencil. (oving it higher than the +oor addsenergy to it. As it rests on the desk, the pencil has potential energy. "hehigher it is, the !urther it could !all. "hat means the pencil has morepotential energy.

     ow Do We (easure Energy?

    Energy is measured in many ways.

    /ne o! the asic measuring locks is called a 0tu. "his stands !or 0ritishthermal unit and was invented y, o! course, the English.

    0tu is the amount o! heat energy it takes to raise the temperature o! onepound o! water y one degree 1ahrenheit, at sea level.

    /ne 0tu e2uals aout one lue-tip kitchen match.

    /ne thousand 0tus roughly e2uals# /ne average candy ar or 345 o! apeanut utter and 6elly sandwich.

    It takes aout 7,888 0tus to make a pot o! co$ee.

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    Energy also can e measured in 6oules. 9oules sounds e)actly like the word 6ewels, as in diamonds and emeralds. A thousand 6oules is e2ual to a0ritish thermal unit.

    1,000 joules 1 !tu

    'o, it would take 7 million 6oules to make a pot o! co$ee.

     "he term :6oule: is named a!ter an English scientist a#es $rescott oule who lived !rom ;

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    1ood is stored energy. It is stored as a chemical with potential energy.When your ody uses that stored energy to do work, it ecomes kineticenergy.

    I! you overeat, the energy in !ood is not :urned: ut is stored as potentialenergy in !at cells.

    When you talk on the phone, your voice is trans!ormed into electricalenergy, which passes over wires %or is transmitted through the air&. "hephone on the other end changes the electrical energy into sound energythrough the speaker.

    A car uses stored chemical energy in gasoline to move. "he enginechanges the chemical energy into heat and kinetic energy to power thecar.

    A toaster changes electrical energy into heat and light energy. %I! you lookinto the toaster, you@ll see the glowing wires.&

    A television changes electrical energy into light and sound energy.

     1ood Energy

    Energy changes !orm at each step in the !ood chain. "ake an ear o! corn asan e)ample.

    'unlight is taken in y the leaves on the corn stalk and trans!ormedthrough photosynthesis. "he plant takes in sunlight and comines it withcaron dio)ide !rom the air and water and minerals !rom the ground.

     "he plant grows tall and creates the ears o! corn - its seeds. "he energy o!the sunlight is stored in the leaves and inside the corn kernels. "he corn

    kernels are !ull o! energy stored as sugars and starch. "he corn isharvested and is !ed to chickens and other animals. "he chickens use thestored energy in the corn on the co to grow and to move. 'ome energy isstored in the animal in its muscle tissue %protein& and in the !at.

     "he chicken reaches maturity, a !armer slaughters it and prepares it to esold. It@s transported to the grocery store. our parents uy the chicken atthe supermarket, ring it home and cook it %using energy&.

     ou then eat the chicken@s meat and !at and convert that stored energyinto energy in your own ody. (aye you ate the chicken at a picnic. "henyou went and played aseall. ou@re using the energy !rom that chicken

    to swing the at, run the ases and throw the all.

    As your ody uses the energy !rom the chicken, you reathe in o)ygen ande)hale caron dio)ide. "hat caron dio)ide is then used y other plants togrow.

    'o, it@s a ig circle

     eat Energy

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    eat is a !orm o! energy. We use it !or a lot o! things, like warming ourhomes and cooking our !ood.

    eat energy moves in three ways#

    1. Con%uction&. Con'ection(. )a%iationFonduction occurs when energy is passed directly !rom one item toanother. I! you stirred a pan o! soup on the stove with a metal spoon, thespoon will heat up. "he heat is eing conducted !rom the hot area o! thesoup to the colder area o! spoon.

    (etals are e)cellent conductors o! heat energy. Wood or plastics are not. "hese :ad: conductors are called insulators. "hat@s why a pan is usuallymade o! metal while the handle ismade o! a strong plastic.

    Fonvection is the movement o! gases or li2uids !rom a cooler spot to a

    warmer spot. I! a soup pan is made o! glass, we could see the movemento! convection currents in the pan. "he warmer soup moves up !rom theheated area at the ottom o! the pan to the top where it is cooler. "hecooler soup then moves to take the warmer soup@s place. "he movementis in a circular pattern within the pan %see picture aove&.

     "he wind we !eel outside is o!ten the result o! convection currents. ou canunderstand this y the winds you !eel near an ocean. Warm air is lighterthan cold air and so it rises. During the daytime, cool air over water movesto replace the air rising up as the land warms the air over it. During the

    nighttime, the directions change -the sur!ace o! the water is

    sometimes warmer and the land iscooler.

    adiation is the >nal !orm o!movement o! heat energy. "he sun@slight and heat cannot reach us yconduction or convection ecausespace is almost completely empty. "here is nothing to trans!er theenergy !rom the sun to the earth.

     "he sun@s rays travel in straight linescalled heat rays.When it moves

    that way, it is called radiation.

    When sunlight hits the earth, its radiation is asored or re+ected. Darkersur!aces asor more o! the radiation and lighter sur!aces re+ect the

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    radiation. 'o you would e cooler i! you wear light or white clothes in thesummer.

    Chapter &: What Is Electricity?

    Electricity >gures everywhere in our lives. Electricity lights up our homes,cooks our !ood, powers our computers, television sets, and otherelectronic devices. Electricity !rom atteries keeps our cars running andmakes our +ashlights shine in the dark.

    ere@s something you can do to see the importance o! electricity. "ake awalk through your school, house or apartment and write down all thedi$erent appliances, devices and machines that use electricity. ou@ll eamaGed at how many things we use each and every day that depend onelectricity.

    0ut what is electricity? Where does it come !rom? ow does it work?

    0e!ore we understand all that, we need to know a little it aout atomsand their structure.

    All matter is made up o! atoms, and atoms are made up o! smallerparticles. "he three main particles making up an atom are the proton, theneutron and the electron.

    Electrons spin around the center, or nucleus, o! atoms, in the same waythe moon spins around the earth. "he nucleus is made up o! neutrons andprotons.

    Electrons contain a negative charge, protons a positive charge. eutronsare neutral H they have neither a positive nor a negative charge.

     "here are many di$erent kinds o! atoms, one !or each type o! element. Anatom is a single part that makes up an element. "here are ;;< di$erentknown elements that make up every thing 'ome elements like o)ygen wereathe are essential to li!e.

    Each atom has a speci>c numer o! electrons, protons and neutrons. 0utno matter how many particles an atom has, the numer o! electronsusually needs to e the same as the numer o! protons. I! the numers are

    the same, the atom is called alanced, and it is very stale.

    'o, i! an atom had si) protons, it should also have si) electrons. "he

    element with si) protons and si) electrons is called caron. Faron is!ound in aundance in the sun, stars, comets, atmospheres o! mostplanets, and the !ood we eat. Foal is made o! caron so are diamonds.

    'ome kinds o! atoms have loosely attached electrons. An atom that loseselectrons has more protons than electrons and is positively charged. Anatom that gains electrons has more negative particles and is negativelycharge. A :charged: atom is called an :ion.:

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    Electrons can e made to move !rom one atom to another. When thoseelectrons move etween the atoms, a current o! electricity is created. "heelectrons move !rom one atom to another in a :+ow.: /ne electron isattached and another electron is lost.

     "his chain is similar to the >re >ghter@s ucket rigades in olden times. 0utinstead o! passing one ucket !rom the start o! the line o! people to the

    other end, each person would have a ucket o! water to pour !rom oneucket to another. "he result was a lot o! spilled water and not enoughwater to douse the >re. It is a situation that@s very similar to electricitypassing along a wire and a circuit. "he charge is passed !rom atom toatom when electricity is :passed.:

    'cientists and engineers have learned many ways to move electrons o$ o!atoms. "hat means that when you add up the electrons and protons, youwould wind up with one more proton instead o! eing alanced.

    'ince all atoms want to e alanced, the atom that has een :unalanced:will look !or a !ree electron to >ll the place o! the missing one. We say that

    this unalanced atom has a :positive charge: %J& ecause it has too manyprotons.

    'ince it got kicked o$, the !ree electron moves around waiting !or anunalanced atom to give it a home. "he !ree electron charge is negative,and has no proton to alance it out, so we say that it has a :negativecharge: %-&.

    'o what do positive and negative charges have to do with electricity?

    'cientists and engineers have !ound several ways to create large numerso! positive atoms and !ree negative electrons. 'ince positive atoms want

    negative electrons so they can e alanced, they have a strong attraction!or the electrons. "he electrons also want to e part o! a alanced atom,so they have a strong attraction to the positive atoms. 'o, the positiveattracts the negative to alance out.

     "he more positive atoms or negative electrons you have, the stronger theattraction !or the other. 'ince we have oth positive and negative chargedgroups attracted to each other, we call the total attraction :charge.:

    Energy also can e measured in 6oules. 9oules sounds e)actly like the word 6ewels, as in diamonds and emeralds. A thousand 6oules is e2ual to a0ritish thermal unit.

    When electrons move among the atoms o! matter, a current o! electricityis created. "his is what happens in a piece o! wire. "he electrons arepassed !rom atom to atom, creating an electrical current !rom one end toother, 6ust like in the picture.

    Electricity is conducted through some things etter than others do. Itsresistance measures how well something conducts electricity. 'ome thingshold their electrons very tightly. Electrons do not move through them very

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    well. "hese things are called insulators. uer, plastic, cloth, glass anddry air are good insulators and have very high resistance.

    /ther materials have some loosely held electrons, which move throughthem very easily. "hese are called conductors. (ost metals H like copper,aluminum or steel H are good conductors.

     Where Does the Word @Electricity@ Fome 1rom?

    Electrons, electricity, electronic and other words that egin with :electr...:all originate !rom the Kreek word :elektor,: meaning :eaming sun.: InKreek, :elektron: is the word !or amer.

    Amer is a very pretty goldish rown :stone: that sparkles orange andyellow in sunlight. Amer is actually !ossiliGed tree sap It@s the stu$ usedin the movie :9urassic *ark.: (illions o! years ago insects got stuck in thetree sap. 'mall insects which had itten the dinosaurs, had lood with DA!rom the dinosaurs in the insect@s odies, which were now !ossiliGed in theamer.

    Ancient Kreeks discovered that amer ehaved oddly - like attracting!eathers - when rued y !ur or other o6ects. "hey didn@t know what itwas that caused this phenomenon. 0ut the Kreeks had discovered one o!the >rst e)amples o! static electricity %see Fhapter B&.

     "he Latin word, electricus, means to :produce !rom amer y !riction.:

    'o, we get our English word electricity !rom Kreek and Latin words thatwere aout amer.

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter03.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter03.html

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    Chapter (: esistance and 'tatic Electricity

    As we have learned, some kinds o! atoms contain loosely attachedelectrons. Electrons can e made to move easily !rom one atom toanother. When those electrons move among the atoms o! matter, acurrent o! electricity is created.

     "ake a piece o! wire. "he electrons are passed !rom atom to atom,creating an electrical current !rom one end to the other. Electrons are very,very small. A single copper penny contains more than;8,888,888,888,888,888,888,888 %;);877& electrons.

    Electricity :+ows: or moves through some things etter than others do. "he measurement o! how well something conducts electricity is called itsresistance.

    esistance in wire depends on how thick and how long it is, and what it@smade o!. "he thickness o! wire is called its gauge. "he smaller the gauge,the igger the wire. 'ome o! the largest thicknesses o! regular wire isgauge ;.

    Di$erent types o! metal are used in making wire. ou can have copperwire, aluminum wire, even steel wire. Each o! these metals has a di$erentresistance how well the metal conducts electricity. "he lower the

    resistance o! a wire, the etter it conducts electricity.

    Fopper is used in many wires ecause it has a lower resistance than manyother metals. "he wires in your walls, inside your lamps and elsewhere areusually copper.

    A piece o! metal can e made to act like a heater. When an electricalcurrent occurs, the resistance causes !riction and the !riction causes heat. "he higher the resistance, the hotter it can get. 'o, a coiled wire high inresistance, like the wire in a hair dryer, can e very hot.

    'ome things conduct electricity very poorly. "hese are called insulators.

    uer is a good insulator, and that@s why ruer is used to cover wires inan electric cord. Klass is another good insulator. I! you look at the end o! apower line, you@ll see that it is attached to some umpy looking things. "hese are glass insulators. "hey keep the metal o! the wires !rom touchingthe metal o! the towers.

     'tatic Electricity

    Another type o! electrical energy is static electricity. nlike currentelectricity that moves, static electricity stays in one place.

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    *ry this e+peri#ent...

    u a alloon >lled with air on a wool sweater or on your hair. "hen hold itup to a wall. "he alloon will stay there y itsel!.

     "ie strings to the ends o! two alloons. ow ru the two alloons together,hold them y strings at the end and put them ne)t to each other. "hey@ll

    move apart.

    uing the alloons gives them static electricity. When you ru thealloon it picks up e)tra electrons !rom the sweater or your hair andecomes slightly negatively charged.

     "he negative charges in the single alloon are attracted to the positivecharges in the wall.

     "he two alloons hanging y strings oth have negative charges. egativecharges always repel negative charges and positive always repels positivecharges. 'o, the two alloons@ negative charges :push: each other apart.

    'tatic electricity can also give you a shock. I! you walk across a carpet,shuMing your !eet and touching something made o! metal, a spark can 6ump etween you and the metal o6ect. 'huMing your !eet picks upadditional electrons spread over your ody. When you touch a metaldoorkno or something with a positive charge the electricity 6umps acrossthe small gap !rom your >ngers 6ust e!ore you touch the metal kno. I!you walk across a carpet and touch a computer case, you can damage thecomputer.

    /ne other type o! static electricity is very spectacular. It@s the lightning ina thunder and lightning storm. Flouds ecome negatively charged as icecrystals inside the clouds ru up against each other. (eanwhile, on theground, the positive charge increases. "he clouds get so highly chargedthat the electrons 6ump !rom the ground to the cloud, or !rom one cloud toanother cloud. "his causes a huge spark o! static electricity in the sky thatwe call lightning.

     ou can >nd out more aout lightning at We Weather !or Nids-www.ucar.edu438th4weweather4

    0ut What Is 'tatic Electricity?

     ou@ll rememer !rom Fhapter 7 that the word :electricity: came !rom theKreek words :elektor,: !or :eaming sun: and :elektron,: oth words

    descriing amer. Amer is !ossiliGed tree sap millions o! years old and hashardened as hard as a stone.

    Around C88 0FE %0e!ore the Fommon Era& Kreeks noticed a strange e$ect#When ruing :elektron: against a piece o! !ur, the amer would startattracting particles o! dust, !eathers and straw. o one paid muchattention to this :strange e$ect: until aout ;C88 when Dr. William Kilertinvestigated the reactions o! magnets and amer and discovered othero6ects can e made :electric.:

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/www.ucar.edu/40th/webweather/http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter02.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/www.ucar.edu/40th/webweather/http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter02.html

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    Kilert said that amer ac2uired what he called :resinous electricity: whenrued with !ur. Klass, however, when rued with silk, ac2uired what hetermed :vitreous electricity.:

    e thought that electricity repeled the same kind and attracts theopposite kind o! electricity. Kilert and other scientists o! that timethought that the !riction actually created the electricity %their word !or the

    electrical charge&.

    In ;3, 0en6amin 1ranklin in America and William Watson in England othreached the same conclusion. "hey said all materials possess a single kindo! electrical :+uid.: "hey didn@t really know anything aout atoms andelectrons, so they called how it ehaved a :+uid.:

     "hey thought that this +uid can penetrate matter !reely and couldn@t ecreated or destroyed. "he two men thought that the action o! ruing %likeruing amer with !ur& moves this unseen +uid !rom one thing toanother, electri!ying oth.

    1ranklin de>ned the +uid as positive and the lack o! +uid as negative. "here!ore, according to 1ranklin, the direction o! +ow was !rom positive tonegative. "oday, we know that the opposite is true. Electricity +ows !romnegative to positive. /thers took the idea even !urther saying this that two+uids are involved. "hey said items with the same +uid attract each other.And opposite types o! +uid in o6ects will make them repel each other.

    All o! this was only partially right. "his is how scienti>c theories develop.'omeone thinks o! why something occurs and then proposes ane)planation. It can take centuries sometime to >nd the real truth. Insteado! electricity eing a +uid, it is the movement o! the charged particlesetween the o6ects... the two o6ects are really e)changing electrons.

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/franklin.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/franklin.html

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    Chapter : Fircuits

    Electrons with a negative charge, can@t :6ump: through the air to apositively charged atom. "hey have to wait until there is a link or ridgeetween the negative area and the positive area. We usually call thisridge a :circuit.:

    When a ridge is created, the electrons egin moving 2uickly. Depending

    on the resistance o! the material making up the ridge, they try to getacross as !ast as they can. I! you@re not care!ul, too many electrons can goacross at one time and destroy the :ridge: or the circuit, in the process.

    In Fhapter B, we learned aout electrons and the attraction etweenpositive and negative charges. We also learned that we can create aridge called a :circuit: etween the charges.

    We can limit the numer o! electrons crossing over the :circuit,: y lettingonly a certain numer through at a time. And we can make electricity dosomething !or us while they are on their way. 1or e)ample, we can :make:the electrons :heat: a >lament in a ul, causing it to glow and give o$

    light.

    When we limit the numer o! electrons that can cross over our circuit, wesay we are giving it :resistance:. We :resist: letting all the electronsthrough. "his works something like a tollooth on a !reeway ridge.Fopper wire is 6ust one type o! ridge we use in circuits.

    0e!ore electrons can move !ar, however, they can collide with one o! theatoms along the way. "his slows them down or even reverses theirdirection. As a result, they lose energy to the atoms. "his energy appearsas heat, and the scattering is a resistance to the current.

     "hink o! the ridge as a garden hose. "he current o! electricity is the water+owing in the hose and the water pressure is the voltage o! a circuit. "hediameter o! the hose is the determining !actor !or the resistance.

    Furrent re!ers to the movement o! charges. In an electrical circuit Helectrons move !rom the negative pole to the positive. I! you connectedthe positive pole o! an electrical source to the negative pole, you create acircuit. "his charge changes into electrical energy when the poles are

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    connected in a circuit H similar to connecting the two poles on oppositeends o! a attery.

    Along the circuit you can have a light ul and an on-o$ switch. "he lightul changes the electrical energy into light and heat energy.

     Fircuit E)periment

    As a oy, *ho#as E%isonuilt a small laoratory in his cellar. is earlye)periments helped develop a very in2uisitive mind. is whole li!e wasspent thinking aout how things work and dreaming up new inventions. "he light ul and movie pro6ector are 6usttwo o! doGens o! inventions.

     ou can uild a very asic electrical circuit similar to what Edison mayhave cra!ted as a oy. And you can >nd out what happens when a currentis :open: compared with when it@s :closed.:

    -eres What /ou nee%:;. *enlight ul

    7. 1lashlight atteryB. "wo C: pieces o! insulated wire %any kind will work&3. "ape to keep the wire on the end o! the attery5. A small piece o! thin +at metal to make a :switch:C. 'mall lock o! wood-eres What to Do;. "o make a switch#  "ake the lock o! wood and stick one thum tack in.

    *ush the other thumtack through the thin piece o! +at metal.

    *ush the thum tack into the wood so that the piece o! metal can

    touch the other thum tack %see picture&.

    7. Fonnect the >rst piece o! wire to a thumtack on the switch.B. *lace the light ul in the center o! this wire piece.3. "ape the end o! the >rst piece o! wire to one end o! the attery.5. "ape your second piece o! wire to the opposite end o! the attery.C. Attach the end o! your second piece o! wire to the remaining

    thumtack on the switch.

     ou@ve created an electrical circuit.

    When you press the switch connecting the two thumtacks, your circuit is:closed: and your current +ows H turning your light ul on. When yourswitch is up, your circuit is :open: and your current can not +ow H turningyour light ul o$, 6ust like "homas Edison@s may have done.

     "he numer o! electrons we are willing to let across the circuit at one timeis called :current:. We measure current using amperes, or :Amps:.

    /ne A(* is de>ned as C,758,888,888,888,888,888 %C.75 ) ;8;

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    'ince no one wants to rememer such a ig numer, that ig numer iscalled a :coulom,: a!ter the scientist Fharles A Foulom who helpeddiscover what a current o! electricity is.

     "he amount o! charge etween the sides o! the circuit is called :voltage.:We measure Ooltage in Oolts. "he word 'olt is named a!ter anotherscientist, Ale)ader Oolta, who uilt the world@s >rst attery.

     ou@ll rememer that ack in Fhapter ;, we de>ned energy as the :ailityto do work.:

    Well, one volt is de>ned as the amount o! electrical charge needed tomake one Foulom %C75,888,888,888,888,888,888 electrons& do one aspeci>c amount o! work H which is laeled one 6oule.

     9oule is also named a!ter a scientist, 9ames *rescott 9oule. Do yourememer him !rom Fhapter 7?

    Ooltage, Furrent and esistance are very important to circuits. I! eithervoltage or current is too ig you could reak the circuit. 0ut i! either is too

    small, the circuit will not e ale to work enough to e use!ul to us. In thesame way, i! the resistance is too ig none o! the electrons would e aleto get though at all, ut i! it were too small, they would rush though all atonce reaking the circuit on their way.

     An Electrical Fircuit(From humorist Dave Barry's book Dave Barry in Cyberspace)

    :Electricity is supplied y the wall socket, which is in turn connected to theelectrical company via ig overhead wires with s2uirrels running on them.

    :A 2uestion many people ask ... is, @ow come the s2uirrels don@t getelectrocuted?@ "o answer that 2uestion, we need to understand e)actlywhat an electrical circuit is.

    :When you turn on a switch, electricity +ows through the wire into theappliance, where it is converted via a process called electrolysis into tinymicrowaves. "hese +y around inside the oven area until they locate theungry omre eat @n@ Eat earty 0urrito entree they then signal thelocation to each other y slapping their tails in a distinctive pattern. "heworkers, or drones, then ... swarm around the 2ueen this causes the rapidwarming that makes the entree edile and leads via amino acids, todigestion.

    :"his is !ollowed y grunting and +ushing, with the out+ow traveling viaunderground pipes to the sewage treatment plant, which in turn releasespuri>ed water into the river, where it is used to !orm water!alls, whichrotate the giant turines that produce the electricity that +ows throughwires ack to your appliance, therey completing the circuit.

    :'o we see that s2uirrels have nothing whatsoever to do with it. "here isno need !or you to worry aout s2uirrels elieve me, they are notworrying aout you.:

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    $lease ote: *-I I A 23E444

     *arallel Fircuits

    When we have only one circuit that electrons can go through to get to theother side we call it a :series circuit.:

    I! we were to set up another circuit ne)t to the >rst one, we would havetwo circuits etween the charges. We call these :parallel circuits: ecausethey run parallel to each other. ou can have as many parallel circuits asyou want. *arallel circuits share the same voltage, ut they allow morepaths !or the electricity to go over. "his means that the total numer o!electrons that can get across %the current& can increase, without reakingeither circuit.

     Electric (otorsAn electric #otor uses circuits 5oun% roun% an% roun%. *hese5oun% circuits are suspen%e% bet5een #agnets. %We send a @thank

    you@ toow 'tu$ Works Wesite !or their electric motor graphic.&

    A motor works through electromagnetism. It has a coiled up wire %thecircuit& that sits etween the north and south poles o! a magnet. Whencurrent +ows through the coiled circuit, another magnetic >eld isproduced. "he north pole o! the >)ed magnet attracts the south pole o!the coiled wire. "he two north poles push away, or repulse, each other.

    http://www.howstuffworks.com/http://www.howstuffworks.com/

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     "he motor is set up in a way that attraction and repulsion spins the centersection with the coiled wire.

    Chapter 6: 'tored Energy and 0atteries

    Energy cannot e created or destroyed, ut it can e saved in various!orms. /ne way to store it is in the !orm o! chemical energy in a attery.When connected in a circuit, a attery canproduce electricity.

    I! you look at a attery, it will have two endsPemdash a positive terminal and a negativeterminal. I! you connect the two terminals withwire, a circuit is !ormed. Electrons will +owthrough the wire and a current o! electricity isproduced.

    Inside the attery, a reaction etween thechemicals takes place. 0ut reaction takes placeonly i! there is a +ow o! electrons. 0atteries cane stored !or a long time and still work ecausethe chemical process doesn@t start until theelectrons +ow !rom the negative to the positiveterminals through a circuit.

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     ow the Fhemical eaction "akes *lace in a 0attery

    A very simple modern attery is the Ginc-caron attery, called the caronattery !or short.

     "his attery contains acidic material within and a rod o! Ginc down thecenter. ere@s where knowing a little it o! chemistry helps.

    When Ginc is inserted into an acid, the acid egins to eat away at the Ginc,releasing hydrogen gas and heat energy. "he acid molecules reak up intoits components# usually hydrogen and other atoms. "he process releaseselectrons !rom the Qinc atoms that comine with hydrogen ions in the acidto create the hydrogen gas.

    I! a rod o! caron is inserted into the acid, the acid does nothing to it.

    0ut i! you connect the caron rod to the Ginc rod with a wire, creating acircuit, electrons will egin to +ow through the wire and comine withhydrogen on the caron rod. "his still releases a little it o! hydrogen gas

    ut it makes less heat. 'ome o! that heat energy is the energy that is+owing through the circuit.

     "he energy in that circuit can now light a light ul in a +ashlight or turn asmall motor. Depending on the siGe o! the attery, it can even start anautomoile.

    Eventually, the Ginc rod is completely dissolved y the acid in the attery,and the attery can no longer e used.

    1or a :great: on-line page aout atteries, visit the EnergiGer LearningFenter.

     'idearAs we read in Fhapter ;, Alessandro Oolta created the >rst attery %alsosee our :'uper 'cientists: page&.

    Oolta called his attery the Ooltaic *ile. e stackedalternating layers o! Ginc, cardoard soaked in saltwater and silver. It looked like this#

    I! you attach a wire to the top and ottom o! the pile,you create an electric current ecause o! the +ow o! electrons. Adding another layer will increase theamount o! electricity produced y the pile.

     Di$erent "ypes o! 0atteries

    Di$erent types o! atteries use di$erent types o! chemicals and chemical reactions. 'ome o! the morecommon types o! atteries are#

    • Alkaline attery H sed in DuracellR and EnergiGerR and other alkaline

    atteries. "he electrodes are Ginc and manganese-o)ide. "he electrolyte isan alkaline paste.

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    • Lead-acid attery H "hese are used in automoiles. "he electrodes are

    made o! lead and lead-o)ide with a strong acid as the electrolyte.

    • Lithium attery H "hese atteries are used in cameras !or the +ash

    ul. "hey are made with lithium, lithium-iodide and lead-iodide. "hey cansupply surges o! electricity !or the +ash.

    • Lithium-ion attery H "hese atteries are !ound in laptop computers,

    cell phones and other high-use portale e2uipment.• ickel-cadmium or iFad attery H "he electrodes are nickel-hydro)ide

    and cadmium. "he electrolyte is potassium-hydro)ide.

    • Qinc-caron attery or standard caron attery H Qinc and caron are

    used in all regular or standard AA, F and D dry-cell atteries. "he electrodesare made o! Ginc and caron, with a paste o! acidic materials etween themserving as the electrolyte.

     1ood H Another (ethod o! 'toring Energy

    0atteries store energy in a chemical process, ut there are other ways o!storing energy. Fonsider the :!ood chain: on our planet.

    *lants, like grass in a meadow, convert the sun@s energy throughphotosynthesis into stored chemical energy. "his energy is stored in theplant cells is used y the plant to grow, repair itsel! and reproduce itsel!.

    Fows and other animals eat the energy stored in the grass or grain andconvert that energy into stored energy in their odies. When we eat meatand other animal products, we in turn, store that energy in our ownodies. We use the stored energy to walk, run, ride a ike or even read apage on the Internet.

    Chapter 7: "urines, Kenerators and *ower *lants

    As we learned in Chapter &, electricity +ows through wires to light ourlamps, run "Os, computers and all other electrical appliances. 0ut wheredoes the electricity come !rom?In this chapter, we@ll learn how electricity is generated in a power plant.In the ne)t !ew chapters, we@ll learn aout the various resources that areused to make the heat to produce electricity. InChapter 8, we@ll learn howthe electricity gets !rom the power plant to homes, school and usinesses.

     "hermal power plants have ig oilers that urn a !uel to make heat. Aoiler is like a teapot on a stove. When the water oils, the steam comesthrough a tiny hole on the top o! the spout. "he moving steam makes awhistle that tells you the water has oiled. In a power plant, the water isrought to a oil inside the oiler, and the steam is then piped to the

    turine through very thick pipes.

    In most oilers, wood, coal, oil or natural gas is urned in a >reo) tomake heat. unning through the >re o) and aove that hot >re are a

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    series o! pipes with water running through them. "he heat energy isconducted into the metal pipes, heating the water in the pipes until it oilsinto steam. Water oils into steam at 7;7 degrees 1ahrenheit or ;88degrees Felsius.

     "he top picture on the right is o! a small power plant located at (ichigan'tate niversity. "he lack area to the le!t o! the power plant is coal, the

    energy source that is urned to heat the water in the oilers o! this plant.

    In the second picture to the le!t, you@ll see the turine and generator at('@s power plant. "he ig pipe on the le!t side is the steam inlet. /n theright side o! the turine is where the steam comes out. "he steam is !edunder high pressure to the turine. "he turine spins and its sha!t isconnected to a turogenerator that changes the mechanical spinningenergy into electricity.

     "he third picture on the right is o! the turine !an e!ore it is placedinside the turine housing. ou can see a close-up o! the turine lades onthe !ourth picture. "he turine has many hundreds o! lades that are

    turned at an angle like the lades o! a !an. When the steam hits the ladesthey spin the turine@s sha!t that is attached to the ottom o! the lades.

    A!ter the steam goes through the turine, it usually goes to a coolingtower outside the where the steam cools o$. It cools o$ and ecomeswater again. When the hot pipes come into contact with cool air, somewater vapor in the air is heated and steam is given o$ aove the coolingtowers. "hat@s why you see huge white clouds sometimes eing given o$y the cooling towers. It@s not smoke, ut is water vapor or steam. "his is

    not the same steam that is used inside the turine.

     "he cooled water then goes ack into the oiler where it is heated

    again and the process repeats over and over.

    (ost power plants in Fali!ornia use cleaner-urning natural gas to produceelectricity. /thers use oil or coal to heat the water. uclear power plantsuse nuclear energy to heat water to make electricity. 'till others, calledgeothermal power plants, use steam or hot water !ound naturally elowthe earth@s sur!ace without urning a !uel. We@ll learn aout those energysources in the ne)t !ew chapters.

     ow the Kenerator Works

     "he turine is attached y a sha!t to the turogenerator. "he generatorhas a long, coiled wire on its sha!t surrounded y a giant magnet. ou cansee the inside o! the generator coil with all its wires in the picture on theright.

     "he sha!t that comes out o! the turine is connected to the generator.When the turine turns, the sha!t and rotor is turned. As the sha!t insidethe generator turns, an electric current is produced in the wire. "heelectric generator is converting mechanical, moving energy into electricalenergy.

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     "he generator is ased on the principle o! :electromagnetic induction:discovered in ;eld, electric current will +ow %or :e induced:& in theconductor. 'o the mechanical energy o! the moving wire is converted intothe electric energy o! the current that +ows in the wire.

     "he electricity produced y the generator then +ows through hugetransmission wires that link the power plants to our homes, school andusinesses. I! you want to learn aout transmission lines, go to Chapter8.

    All power plants have turines and generators. 'ome turines are turnedy wind, some y water, some y steam.

    Chapter 8: Electricity "ransmission 'ystem

    A!ter electricity is produced at power plants it has to get to the customersthat use the electricity. /ur cities, towns, states and the entire country arecriss-crossed with power lines that :carry:the electricity.

    As large generators spin, they produce electricity with a voltage o! aout75,888 volts. A volt is a measurement o! electromotive !orce in electricity. "his is the electric !orce that :pushes: electrons around a circuit. :Oolt: isnamed a!ter Alessandro Oolta, an Italian physicist who invented the >rstattery.

     "he electricity >rst goes to a trans!ormer at the power plant that ooststhe voltage up to 388,888 volts. When electricity travels long distances itis etter to have it at higher voltages. Another way o! saying this is thatelectricity can e trans!erred more eSciently at high voltages.

     "he long thick cales o! transmission lines are made o! copper oraluminum ecause they have a low resistance. ou@ll rememer !romFhapter B that the higher the resistance o! a wire, the warmer it gets. 'o,some o! the electrical energy is lost ecause it is changed into heat

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    energy. igh voltage transmission lines carry electricity long distances to asustation.

     "he power lines go into sustations near usinesses, !actories and homes.ere trans!ormers change the very high voltage electricity ack into lower

    voltage electricity.

    1rom these sustations %like in the photo to the right&, electricity indi$erent power levels is used to run !actories, streetcars and mass transit,light street lights and stop lights, and is sent to your neighorhood.

    In your neighorhood, another small trans!ormer mounted on pole %seepicture& or in a utility o) converts the power to even lower levels to eused in your house. "he voltage is eventually reduced to 778 volts !orlarger appliances, like stoves and clothes dryers, and ;;8 volts !or lights, "Os and other smaller appliances.

    ather than over-head lines, some new distriution lines are underground. "he power lines are protected !rom the weather, which can cause line to

    reak. ave you ever seen what happens a!ter an ice storm? "he picture on the right shows high voltage towers that crumpled !romthe weight o! ice during a ;==< ice storm that hit Fanada and parts o! thenited 'tates. (ore than ;,888 high voltage towers and B8,888 woodenutility poles were destroyed in Fanada y the storm.

    Flose to ;.3 million people in Tueec and 7B8,888 in /ntario were withoutelectricity. In many places, power not !ully restored !or up to a week.Weather people called it the most destructive storm in Fanadian history.

    When electricity enters your home, it must pass through a meter. A utilitycompany worker reads the meter so the company will know how much

    electricity you used and can ill you !or the cost.

    A!ter eing metered, the electricity goes through a !use o) into yourhome. "he !use o) protects the house in case o! prolems. When a !use%or a circuit reaker& :lows: or :trips: something is wrong with anappliance or something was short- circuited.

     Energy 'a!ety ote

    e'er play aroun% a trans9or#er. I9 a ball or toy lan%s inor near a trans9or#er, go an% tell your parents to call theelectric co#pany. *he electricity 9ro# a trans9or#er coul%kill you.

    e'er y a kite aroun% electrical lines. *he kite stringcoul% link across the 5ires, co#pleting a circuit. *heelectricity coul% be trans9erre% back to you hol%ing thestring.

    e'er let a balloon ; especially a #ylar 9oil balloon ;escape into the sky. When the heliu# o9 the balloonescapes, the balloon can co#e %o5n a long 5ay a5ays.

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    *he 5ire or the #ylar sur9ace coul% stretch across high'oltage electrical 5ires causing proble#s or e'en a

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    As the trees and plants died, they sank to the ottom o! the swamps o!oceans. "hey !ormed layers o! a spongy material called peat. /ver manyhundreds o! years, the peat was covered y sand and clay and otherminerals, which turned into a type o! rock called sedimentary.

    (ore and more rock piled on top o! more rock, and it weighed more andmore. It egan to press down on the peat. "he peat was s2ueeGed and

    s2ueeGed until the water came out o! it and it eventually, over millions o!years, it turned into coal, oil or petroleum, and natural gas.

     Foal

    Foal is a hard, lack colored rock-like sustance. It is made up o! caron,hydrogen, o)ygen, nitrogen and varying amounts o! sulphur. "here arethree main types o! coal H anthracite, ituminous and lignite. Anthracitecoal is the hardest and has more caron, which gives it a higher energycontent. Lignite is the so!test and is low in caron ut high in hydrogenand o)ygen content. 0ituminous is in etween. "oday, the precursor to

    coalpeatis still !ound in many countries and is also used as an energysource.

     "he earliest known use o! coal was in Fhina. Foal !rom the 1u-shunmine in northeastern Fhina may have een used to smelt copper as earlyas B,888 years ago. "he Fhinese thought coal was a stone that could urn.

    Foal is !ound in many o! the lower 3< states o! .'. and throughout therest o! the world. Foal is mined out o! the ground using various methods.'ome coal mines are dug y sinking vertical or horiGontal sha!ts deepunder ground, and coal miners travel y elevators or trains deep underground to dig the coal. /ther coal is mined in strip mines where huge

    steam shovels strip away the top layers aove the coal. "he layers arethen restored a!ter the coal is taken away.

     "he coal is then shipped y train and oats and even in pipelines. Inpipelines, the coal is ground up and mi)ed with water to make what@scalled a slurry. "his is then pumped many miles through pipelines. At theother end, the coal is used to !uel power plants and other !actories.

     /il or *etroleum

    /il is another !ossil !uel. It was also !ormed more than B88 million yearsago. 'ome scientists say that tiny diatoms are the source o! oil. Diatoms

    are sea creatures the siGe o! a pin head. "hey do one thing 6ust like plantsthey can convert sunlight directly into stored energy.

    In the graphic on the le!t, as the diatoms died they !ell to the sea +oor%;&. ere they were uried under sediment and other rock %7&. "he rocks2ueeGed the diatoms and the energy in their odies could not escape. "he caron eventually turned into oil under great pressure and heat. Asthe earth changed and moved and !olded, pockets where oil and naturalgas can e !ound were !ormed %B&.

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    /il has een used !or more than 5,888-C,888 years. "he ancient'umerians, Assyrians and 0aylonians used crude oil and asphalt %:pitch:&collected !rom large seeps at "uttul %modern-day it& on the Euphratesiver. A seep is a place on the ground where the oil leaks up !rom elowground. "he ancient Egyptians, used li2uid oil as a medicine !or wounds,and oil has een used in lamps to provide light.

     "he Dead 'ea, near the modern Fountry o! Israel, used to e called LakeAsphaltites. "he word asphalt was derived is !rom that term ecause o!the lumps o! gooey petroleum that were washed up on the lake shores!rom underwater seeps.

    In orth America, ative Americans used lankets to skim oil o$ thesur!ace o! streams and lakes. "hey used oil as medicine and to makecanoes water-proo!. During the evolutionary War, ative Americanstaught Keorge Washington@s troops how to treat !rostite with oil.

    As our country grew, the demand !or oil continued to increase as a !uel !orlamps. *etroleum oil egan to replace whale oil in lamps ecause the price

    !or whale oil was very high. During this time, most petroleum oil came!rom distilling coal into a li2uid or y skimming it o$ o! lakes H 6ust as theative Americans did.

     "hen on August 7, ;

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    /il is stored in large tanks until it is sent to various places to e used. Atoil re>neries, crude oil is split into various types o! products y heating thethick lack oil.

    /il is made into many di$erent products H !ertiliGers !or !arms, the clothesyou wear, the toothrush you use, the plastic ottle that holds your milk,the plastic pen that you write with. "hey all came !rom oil. "here arethousands o! other products that come !rom oil. Almost all plastic comesoriginally !rom oil. Fan you think o! some other things made !rom oil?

     "he products include gasoline, diesel !uel, aviation or 6et !uel, home

    heating oil, oil !or ships and oil to urn in power plants to make electricity.ere@s what a arrel o! crude oil can make.

    In Fali!ornia, 3 percent o! our oil is used !or transportation H cars, planes,trucks, uses and motorcycles. We@ll learn more aout transportationenergy in Chapter 1=.

     atural Kas

    'ometime etween C,888 to 7,888 years 0FE %0e!ore the Fommon Era&,the >rst discoveries o! natural gas seeps were made in Iran. (any early

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    writers descried the natural petroleum seeps in the (iddle East,especially in the 0aku region o! what is now AGerai6an. "he gas seeps,proaly >rst ignited y lightning, provided the !uel !or the :eternal >res:o! the >re-worshiping religion o! the ancient *ersians.

    atural gas is lighter than air. atural gas is mostly made up o! a gascalled methane. (ethane is a simple chemical compound that is made up

    o! caron and hydrogen atoms. It@s chemical !ormula is F3 H one atom o!caron along with !our atoms hydrogen. "his gas is highly +ammale.

    atural gas is usually !ound near petroleum underground. It is pumped!rom elow ground and travels in pipelines to storage areas. "he ne)tchapter looks at that pipeline system.

    atural gas usually has no odor and you can@t see it. 0e!ore it is sent tothe pipelines and storage tanks, it is mi)ed with a chemical that gives astrong odor. "he odor smells almost like rotten eggs. "he odor makes iteasy to smell i! there is a leak.

    Energy a9ety ote4I9 you s#ell that rotten egg s#ell in your house, tell your9olks an% get out o9 the house ?uickly. Dont turn on anylights or other electrical %e'ices. A spark 9ro# a lights5itch can ignite the gas 'ery easily. @o to a neighborshouse an% call ;1;1 9or e#ergency help.

     'aving 1ossil 1uels

    1ossil !uels take millions o! years to make. We are using up the !uels thatwere made more than B88 million years ago e!ore the time o! the

    dinosaurs. /nce they are gone they are gone.'o, it@s est to not waste !ossil !uels. "hey are not renewale they can@treally e made again. We can save !ossil !uels y conserving energy.

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    Chapter : atural Kas Distriution 'ystem

    We learned in Chapter = that natural gas is a !ossil !uel. It is a gaseousmolecule that@s made up o! two atoms H one caron atom comined with!our hydrogen atom. It@s chemical !ormula is F3. "he picture on the rightis a model o! what the molecule could look like.

    Don@t con!use natural gas with :gasoline,: which we call :gas: !or short.Like oil, natural gas is !ound under ground and under the ocean +oor. Wellsare drilled to tap into natural gas reservoirs 6ust like drilling !or oil. /nce a

    drill has hit an area that contains natural gas, it can e rought to thesur!ace through pipes.

     "he natural gas has to get !rom the wells to us. "o do that, there is a hugenetwork o! pipelines that rings natural gas !rom the gas >elds to us.'ome o! these pipes are two !eet wide.

    atural gas is sent in larger pipelines to power plants to make electricityor to !actories ecause they use lots o! gas. 0akeries use natural gas toheat ovens to ake read, pies, pastries and cookies. /ther usinessesuse natural gas !or heating their uildings or heating water.

    1rom larger pipelines, the gas goes through smaller and smaller pipes toyour neighorhood.

    In usinesses and in your home, the natural gas must >rst pass through ameter, which measures the amount o! !uel going into the uilding. A gascompany worker reads the meter and the company will charge you !or theamount o! natural gas you used.

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    Energy can e !ound in a numer o! di$erent !orms. It can e chemicalenergy, electrical energy, heat %thermal energy&, light %radiant energy&,mechanical energy, and nuclear energy.

    In some homes, natural gas is used !or cooking, heating water and heatingthe house in a !urnace.

    In rural areas, where there are no natural gas pipelines, propane %another!orm o! gas that@s o!ten made when oil is re>ned& or ottled gas is usedinstead o! natural gas. *ropane is also called L*K, or li2ue>ed petroleumgas, is made up o! methane and a mi)ture with other gases like utane.

    *ropane turns to a li2uid when it is placed under slight pressure. 1orregular natural gas to turn into a li2uid, it has to e made very, very cold.

    Fars and trucks can also use natural gas as a transportation !uel, ut theymust carry special cylinder-like tanks to hold the !uel.

    When natural gas is urned to make heat or urned in a car@s engine, iturns very cleanly. When you comine natural gas with o)ygen %the

    process o! comustion&, you produce caron dio)ide and water vapor plusthe energy that@s released in heat and light.

    'ome impurities are contained in all natural gas. "hese include sulphurand utane and other chemicals. When urned, those impurities cancreate air pollution. "he amount o! pollution !rom natural gas is less thanurning a more :comple): !uel like gasoline. atural gas-powered cars aremore than =8 percent cleaner than a gasoline-powered car.

     "hat@s why many people !eel natural gas would e a good !uel !or carsecause it urns cleanly.

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    Chapter 10: 0iomass Energy

    0iomass is matter usually thought o! as garage. 'ome o! it is 6ust stu$lying around -- dead trees, tree ranches, yard clippings, le!t-over crops,wood chips %like in the picture to the right&, and ark and sawdust !romlumer mills. It can even include used tires and livestock manure.

     our trash, paper products that can@t e recycled into other paperproducts, and other household waste are normally sent to the dump. ourtrash contains some types o! iomass that can e reused. ecyclingiomass !or !uel and other uses cuts down on the need !or :land>lls: tohold garage.

     "his stu$ noody seems to want can e used to produce electricity, heat,

    compost material or !uels. Fomposting material is decayed plant or !oodproducts mi)ed together in a compost pile and spread to help plants grow.

    Fali!ornia produces more than C8 million one dry tons o! iomass eachyear. /! this total, >ve million one dry tons is now urned to makeelectricity. "his is iomass !rom lumer mill wastes, uran wood waste,!orest and agricultural residues and other !eed stocks.

    I! all o! it was used, the C8 million tons o! iomass in Fali!ornia could makeclose to 7,888 megawatts o! electricity !or Fali!ornia@s growing populationand economy. "hat@s enough energy to make electricity !or aout twomillion homes

    ow iomass works is very simple. "he waste wood, tree ranches andother scraps are gathered together in ig trucks. "he trucks ring thewaste !rom !actories and !rom !arms to a iomass power plant. ere theiomass is dumped into huge hoppers. "his is then !ed into a !urnacewhere it is urned. "he heat is used to oil water in the oiler, and theenergy in the steam is used to turn turines and generators %seeChapter=&.

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    0iomass can also e tapped right at the land>ll with urning wasterproducts. When garage decomposes, it gives o$ methane gas. ou@llrememer in chapters < and = that natural gas is made up o! methane.*ipelines are put into the land>lls and the methane gas can e collected. Itis then used in power plants to make electricity. "his type o! iomass iscalled land>ll gas.

    A similar thing can e done at animal !eed lots. In places where lots o! animals are raised, the animals - like cattle, cows and even chickens -produce manure. When manure decomposes, it also gives o$ methane gassimilar to garage. "his gas can e urned right at the !arm to makeenergy to run the !arm.

    sing iomass can help reduce gloal warming compared to a !ossil !uel-powered plant. *lants use and store caron dio)ide %F/7& when they grow.F/7 stored in the plant is released when the plant material is urned ordecays. 0y replanting the crops, the new plants can use the F/7 producedy the urned plants. 'o using iomass and replanting helps close the

    caron dio)ide cycle. owever, i! the crops are not replanted, theniomass can emit caron dio)ide that will contriute toward gloalwarming.

    'o, the use o! iomass can e environmentally !riendly ecause theiomass is reduced, recycled and then reused. It is also a renewaleresource ecause plants to make iomass can e grown over and over.

     "oday, new ways o! using iomass are still eing discovered. /ne way is toproduce ethanol, a li2uid alcohol !uel. Ethanol can e used in special typeso! cars that are made !or using alcohol !uel instead o! gasoline. "healcohol can also e comined with gasoline. "his reduces our dependence

    on oil H a non-renewale !ossil !uel.

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    Chapter 11: Keothermal Energy

    Keothermal Energy has een around !or as long as the Earth has e)isted.:Keo: means earth, and :thermal: means heat. 'o, geothermal means

    earth-heat.

    ave you ever cut a oiled egg in hal!? "he egg is similar to how theearth looks like inside. "he yellow yolk o! the egg is like the core o! theearth. "he white part is the mantle o! the earth. And the thin shell o! theegg, that would have surrounded the oiled egg i! you didn@t peel it o$, islike the earth@s crust.

    0elow the crust o! the earth, the top layer o! the mantle is a hot li2uid rockcalled magma. "he crust o! the earth +oats on this li2uid magma mantle.When magma reaks through the sur!ace o! the earth in a volcano, it iscalled lava.

    1or every ;88 meters you go elow ground, the temperature o! the rockincreases aout B degrees Felsius. /r !or every B7< !eet elow ground, thetemperature increases 5.3 degrees 1ahrenheit. 'o, i! you went aout;8,888 !eet elow ground, the temperature o! the rock would e hotenough to oil water.

    Deep under the sur!ace, water sometimes makes its way close to thehot rock and turns into oiling hot water or into steam. "he hot water canreach temperatures o! more than B88 degrees 1ahrenheit %;3< degreesFelsius&. "his is hotter than oiling water %7;7 degrees 1 4 ;88 degrees F&.It doesn@t turn into steam ecause it is not in contact with the air.

    When this hot water comes up through a crack in the earth, we call it a hotspring, like Emerald *ool at ellowstone ational *ark pictured on the le!t./r, it sometimes e)plodes into the air as a geyser, like /ld 1aith!ul Keyserpictured on the right.

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    Aout ;8,888 years ago, *aleo-Indians used hot springs in orthAmerican !or cooking. Areas around hot springs were neutral Gones.Warriors o! >ghting tries would athe together in peace. Every ma6or hotspring in the nited 'tates can e associated with ative American tries.Fali!ornia hot springs, like at the Keysers in the apa area, were importantand sacred areas to tries !rom that area.

    In other places around the world, people used hot springs !or rest andrela)ation. "he ancient omans uilt elaorate uildings to en6oy hotaths, and the 9apanese have en6oyed natural hot springs !or centuries.

     Keothermal "oday

     "oday, people use the geothermally heated hot water in swimming poolsand in health spas. /r, the hot water !rom elow the ground can warmuildings !or growing plants, like in the green house on the right.

    In 'an 0ernardino, in 'outhern Fali!ornia, hot water !rom elow ground isused to heat uildings during the winter. "he hot water runs through miles

    o! insulated pipes to doGens o! pulic uildings. "he Fity all, animalshelters, retirement homes, state agencies, a hotel and convention centerare some o! the uildings which are heated this way.

    In the Fountry o! Iceland, many o! the uildings and even swimming poolsin the capital o! eyk6avik %EFN-yah-vick& and elsewhere are heated withgeothermal hot water. "he country has at least 75 active volcanoes andmany hot springs and geysers.

     Keothermal Electricity

    ot water or steam !rom elow ground can also e used to make

    electricity in a geothermal power plant.

    In Fali!ornia, there are ;3 areas where we use geothermal energy to makeelectricity. "he red areas on the map show where there are knowngeothermal areas. 'ome are not used yet ecause the resource is toosmall, too isolated or the water temperatures are not hot enough to makeelectricity.

     "he main spots are#

    •  "he Keysers area north o! 'an 1rancisco

    • In the northwest corner o! the state near Lassen Oolcanic ational *ark

    • In the (ammoth Lakes area - the site o! a huge ancient volcano• In the Foso ot 'prings area in Inyo Founty

    • In the Imperial Oalley in 'outhern Fali!ornia.

    'ome o! the areas have so much steam and hot water that it can e usedto generate electricity. oles are drilled into the ground and pipes loweredinto the hot water, like a drinking straw in a soda. "he hot steam or watercomes up through these pipes !rom elow ground.

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     ou can see the pipes running in !ront o! the geothermal power plant inthe picture. "his power plant is Keysers nit U ;< located in the KeysersKeothermal area o! Fali!ornia.

    A geothermal power plant is like in a regular power plant e)cept that no!uel is urned to heat water into steam. "he steam or hot water in ageothermal power plant is heated y the earth. It goes into a special

    turine. "he turine lades spin and the sha!t !rom the turine isconnected to a generator to make electricity. "he steam then gets cooledo$ in a cooling tower.

     "he white :smoke: rising !rom the plants in the photograph aove is notsmoke. It is steam given o$ in the cooling process. "he cooled water canthen e pumped ack elow ground to e reheated y the earth.

    ere@s a cut-away showing the inside o! the power plant. "he hot water+ows into turine and out o! the turine. "he turn turns the generator, andthe electricity goes out to the trans!ormer and then to the hugetransmission wires that link the power plants to our homes, school and

    usinesses. We learned aout transmission lines in Chapter 8.

    Fali!ornia@s geothermal power plants produce aout one-hal! o! the world@sgeothermally generated electricity. "he geothermal power plants produceenough electricity !or aout two million homes.

     Keothermal 4 Kround 'ource eat *umps

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter07.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter07.html

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     "hough it gets much hotter as we go deep elow ground, the upper layero! the earth close to the sur!ace is not very hot.

    Almost everywhere across the entire planet, the upper ;8 !eet elowground level stays the same temperature, etween 58 and C8 degrees1ahrenheit %;8 and ;C degrees F&. I! you@ve ever een in a asement o! auilding or in a cavern elow ground, the temperature o! the area isalmost always cool.

    A geothermal or ground source heat pump system can use that constanttemperature to heat or cool a uilding. *ipes are uried in the ground nearthe uilding. Inside these pipes a +uid, like the anti!reeGe in a car radiator,is circulated.

    In winter, heat !rom the warmer ground goes through the heat e)changero! a heat pump, which sends warm air into the home or usiness. Duringhot weather, the process is reversed. ot air !rom inside the uilding goesthrough the heat e)changer and the heat is passed into the relativelycooler ground. eat removed during the summer can also e used to heatwater.

    1or another 1LA' :movie: aout how ground source heat pumps work, goto the KeoE)change wesiteat# http:>>555.ghpc.org>about>#o'ie.ht#.

    http://www.ghpc.org/about/movie.htmhttp://www.ghpc.org/about/movie.htm

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    Chapter 1&: ydro *ower

    When it rains in hills and mountains, the water ecomes streams andrivers that run down to the ocean. "he moving or !alling water can e used

    to do work. Energy, you@ll rememer is the aility to do work. 'o movingwater, which has kinetic energy, can e usedto make electricity.

    1or hundreds o! years, moving water was used to turn wooden wheels thatwere attached to grinding wheels to grind %or mill& +our or corn. "hesewere called grist mills or water mills.

    In the year ;8

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    ydro means water. ydro-electric means making electricity !rom waterpower.

    ydroelectric power uses the kinetic energy o! moving water to makeelectricity. Dams can e uilt to stop the +ow o! a river. Water ehind adam o!ten !orms a reservoir Like the picture o! 'hasta Dam in orthernFali!ornia pictured on the right. Dams are also uilt across larger rivers ut

    no reservoir is made. "he river is simply sent through a hydroelectricpower plant or powerhouse. ou can see this in the picture o! "he DallesDam on the Folumia iver along the order o! /regon and Washington'tate.

    ydro is one o! the largest producers o! electricity in the nited 'tates.Water power supplies aout ;8 percent o! the entire electricity that weuse. In states with high mountains and lots o! rivers, even more electricityi! made y hydro power. In Fali!ornia, !or e)ample, aout ;5 percent o! all

    the electricity comes !rom hydroelectric.

     "he state o! Washington leads the nation in

    hydroelectricity. "he Krand Foulee, Fhie! 9oseph and 9ohn Day dams arethree o! si) ma6or dams on the Folumia iver. Aout

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     "he water ehind the dam +ows through the intake and into a pipe called

    a penstock. "he water pushes against lades in a turine, causing them toturn. "he turine is similar to the kind used in a power plant that welearned aout in Chapter 7. 0ut instead o! using steam to turn theturine, water is used.

     "he turine spins a generator to produce electricity. "he electricity canthen travel over long distance electric lines to your home, to your school,to !actories and usinesses.

    ydro power today can e !ound in the mountainous areas o! states wherethere are lakes and reservoirs and along rivers.

    Chapter 1(: uclear Energy H 1ission and 1usion

    Another ma6or !orm o! energy is nuclear energy, the energy that is trappedinside each atom. /ne o! the laws o! the universe is that matter andenergy can@t e created nor destroyed. 0ut they can e changed in !orm.

    (atter can e changed into energy. "he world@s most !amousscientist, Albert Einstein, created the mathematical !ormula thate)plains this. It is#

     "his e2uation says#

    E Venergy e2uals # Vmass times c& Vc stands !or the velocity or thespeed o! light.c& means c times c, or the speed o! light raised to thesecond power or c-s2uared. ou can listen to Einstein@s voice e)plaining this at#555.aip.org>history>einstein>'oice1.ht#

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter06.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/einstein.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/einstein.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/www.aip.org/history/einstein/voice1.htmhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter06.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/einstein.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/www.aip.org/history/einstein/voice1.htm

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    *lease note that some we rowser so!tware may not show an e)ponent%raising something to a power, a mathematical e)pression& on theInternet. ormally c-s2uared is shown with a smaller :&: placed aove andto the right o! the c.

    'cientists used Einstein@s !amous e2uation as the key to unlock atomicenergy and also create atomic oms.

     "he ancient Kreeks said the smallest part o! nature is an atom. 0ut theydid not know 7,888 years ago aout nature@s even smaller parts.

    As we learned in chapter &, atoms are made up o! smaller particles -- anucleus o! protons and neutrons, surrounded y electrons which swirlaround the nucleus much like the earth revolves around the sun.

     uclear 1ission

    An atom@s nucleus can e split apart. When this is done, a tremendousamount o! energy is released. "he energy is oth heat and light energy.Einstein said that a very small amount o! matter contains a very LAKE

    amount o! energy. "his energy, when let out slowly, can e harnessed togenerate electricity. When it is let out all at once, it can make a

    tremendous e)plosion in an atomic om.

    A nuclear power plant %like Dialo Fanyon uclear *lant shown elow&uses uranium as a :!uel.: ranium is an element that is dug out o! theground many places around the world. It is processed into tiny pellets thatare loaded into very long rods that are put into the power plant@s reactor.

     "he word >ssion means to split apart. Inside the reactor o! an atomicpower plant, uranium atoms are split apart in a controlled chain reaction.

    In a chain reaction, particles released y the splitting o! the atom go o$and strike other uranium atoms splitting those. "hose particles given o$split still other atoms in a chain reaction. In nuclear power plants, controlrods are used to keep the splitting regulatedso it doesn@t go too !ast.

    I! the reaction is not controlled, you could have an atomic om. 0ut inatomic oms, almost pure pieces o! the element ranium-7B5 or*lutonium, o! a precise mass and shape, must e rought together andheld together, with great !orce. "hese conditions are not present in anuclear reactor.

     "he reaction also creates radioactive material. "his material could hurtpeople i! released, so it is kept in a solid !orm. "he very strong concretedome in the picture is designed to keep this material inside i! an accidenthappens.

     "his chain reaction gives o$ heat energy. "his heat energy is used to oilwater in the core o! the reactor. 'o, instead o! urning a !uel, nuclearpower plants use the chain reaction o! atoms splitting to change theenergy o! atoms into heat energy.

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    Power plant drawing courtesy Nuclear Institute "his water !rom around the nuclear core is sent to another section o! thepower plant. ere, in the heat e)changer, it heats another set o! pipes >lledwith water to make steam. "he steam in this second set o! pipes turns aturine to generate electricity. 0elow is a cross section o! the inside o! atypical nuclear power plant.

     uclear 1usion

    Another !orm o! nuclear energy is called !usion. 1usion means 6oining

    smaller nuclei %the plural o! nucleus& to make a larger nucleus. "he sunuses nuclear !usion o! hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. "his gives o$heat and light and other radiation.

    In the picture to the right, two types o! hydrogen atoms, deuterium andtritium, comine to make a helium atom and an e)tra particle called aneutron.

    Also given o$ in this !usion reaction is energy "hanks to the niversity o!Fali!ornia, 0erkeley !or the picture.

    'cientists have een working on controlling nuclear !usion !or a long time,

    trying to make a !usion reactor to produce electricity. 0ut they have eenhaving troule learning how to control the reaction in a contained space.

    What@s etter aout nuclear !usion is that it creates less radioactivematerial than >ssion, and its supply o! !uel can last longer than the sun.

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    Chapter 1: /cean Energy

     "he world@s ocean may eventually provide us with energy to power ourhomes and usinesses. ight now, there are very !ew ocean energy power

    plants and most are !airly small. 0ut how can we get energy !rom theocean?

     "here are three asic ways to tap the ocean !or its energy. We can usethe ocean@s waves, we can use the ocean@s high and low tides, or we canuse temperature di$erences in the water. Let@s take a look at each.

     Wave Energy

    Ninetic energy %movement& e)ists in the moving waves o! the ocean. "hatenergy can e used to power a turine. In this simple e)ample, to theright, the wave rises into a chamer. "he rising water !orces the air out o!

    the chamer. "he moving air spins a turine which can turn a generator.

    When the wave goes down, air +ows through the turine and ack into thechamer through doors that are normally closed.

     "his is only one type o! wave-energy system. /thers actually use the upand down motion o! the wave to power a piston that moves up and downinside a cylinder. "hat piston can also turn a generator.

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    (ost wave-energy systems are very small. 0ut, they can e used to powera warning uoy or a small light house.

     "idal Energy

    Another !orm o! ocean energy is called tidal energy. When tides comes intothe shore, they can e trapped in reservoirs ehind dams. "hen when the

    tide drops, the water ehind the dam can e let out 6ust like in a regularhydroelectric power plant.

     "idal energy has een used since aout the ;;th Fentury, when smalldams were uilt along ocean estuaries and small streams. the tidal waterehind these dams was used to turn water wheels to mill grains.

    In order !or tidal energy to work well, you need large increases in tides. Anincrease o! at least ;C !eet etween low tide to high tide is needed. "hereare only a !ew places where this tide change occurs around the earth.'ome power plants are already operating using this idea. /ne plant in1rance makes enough energy !rom tides %738 megawatts& to power

    738,888 homes.

     "his !acility is called the La ance 'tation in 1rance. It egan makingelectricity in ;=CC. It produces aout one >!th o! a regular nuclear or coal->red power plant. It is more than ;8 times the power o! the ne)t largesttidal station in the world, the ; megawatt Fanadian Annapolis station.

     /cean "hermal Energy Fonversion %/"EF&

     "he idea is not new. sing the temperature o! water to make energyactually dates ack to ;nal ocean energy idea uses

    temperature di$erences in the ocean. I! you ever went swimming in theocean and dove deep elow the sur!ace, you would have noticed that thewater gets colder the deeper you go. It@s warmer on the sur!ace ecausesunlight warms the water. 0ut elow the sur!ace, the ocean gets very cold. "hat@s why scua divers wear wet suits when they dive down deep. "heirwet suits trapped their ody heat to keep them warm.

    *ower plants can e uilt that use this di$erence in temperature to makeenergy. A di$erence o! at least B< degrees 1ahrenheit is needed etweenthe warmer sur!ace water and the colder deep ocean water.

    sing this type o! energy source is called /cean "hermal EnergyFonversion or /"EF. It is eing demonstrated in awaii. (ore in!o on /"EFcan e !ound on the archive pages !or the atural Energy Laoratory o!awaii at#555.ha5aii.go'>%be%t>ert>otec;nelha>otec.ht#l

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/otec-nelha/otec.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/otec-nelha/otec.html

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    Chapter 16: 'olar Energy

    We have always used the energy o! the sun as !ar ack as humans havee)isted on this planet. As !ar ack as 5,888 years ago, people:worshipped: the sun. a, the sun-god, who was considered the >rst kingo! Egypt. In (esopotamia, the sun-god 'hamash was a ma6or deity andwas e2uated with 6ustice. In Kreece there were two sun deities, Apollo andelios. "he in+uence o! the sun also appears in other religions H

    Qoroastrianism, (ithraism, oman religion, induism, 0uddhism, theDruids o! England, the AGtecs o! (e)ico, the Incas o! *eru, and manyative American tries.

    We know today, that the sun is simply our nearest star. Without it, li!ewould not e)ist on our planet. We use the sun@s energy every day in manydi$erent ways.

    When we hang laundry outside to dry in the sun, we are using the sun@sheat to do work H drying our clothes.

    *lants use the sun@s light to make !ood. Animals eat plants !or !ood. And as

    we learned in Chapter 6, decaying plants hundreds o! millions o! yearsago produced the coal, oil and natural gas that we use today. 'o, !ossil!uels is actually sunlight stored millions and millions o! years ago.

    Indirectly, the sun or other stars are responsile !or ALL our energy. Evennuclear energy comes !rom a star ecause the uranium atoms used innuclear energy were created in the !ury o! a nova H a star e)ploding.

    Let@s look at ways in which we can use the sun@s energy.

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter05.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter05.html

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     'olar ot Water

    In the ;

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    Another !orm o! solar power plants to make electricity is called a Fentral "ower *ower *lant, like the one to the right - the 'olar "wo *ro6ect.

    'unlight is re+ected o$ ;,rst developed in the ;=58s !or use on .'. spacesatellites. "hey are made o! silicon, a special type o! melted sand.

    When sunlight strikes the solar cell, electrons %red circles& are knockedloose."hey move toward the treated !ront sur!ace %dark lue color&. Anelectron imalance is created etween the !ront and ack. When the twosur!aces are 6oined y a connector, like a wire, a current o! electricity

    occurs etween the negative and positive sides.

     "hese individual solar cells are arranged together in a *O module andthe modules are grouped together in an array. 'ome o! the arrays are seton special tracking devices to !ollow sunlight all day long.

     "he electrical energy !rom solar cells can then e used directly. It can eused in a home !or lights and appliances. It can e used in a usiness.'olar energy can e stored in atteries to light a roadside illoard atnight. /r the energy can e stored in a attery !or an emergency roadside

    cellular telephone when no telephone wires are around.

    'ome e)perimental cars also use *O cells. "hey convertsunlight directly into energy to power electric motors on the car.

    0ut when most o! us think o! solar energy, we think o! satellites in outerspace. ere@s a picture o! solar panels e)tending out !rom a satellite.

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    Chapter 17: Wind Energy

    Wind can e used to do work. "he kinetic energy o! the wind can echanged into other !orms o! energy, either mechanical energy or electricalenergy.

    When a oat li!ts a sail, it is using wind energy to push it through thewater. "his is one !orm o! work.

    1armers have een using wind energy !or many years to pump water !romwells using windmills like the one on the right.

    In olland, windmills have een used !or centuries to pump water !romlow-lying areas.

    Wind is also used to turn large grinding stones to grind wheat or corn, 6ustlike a water wheel is turned y water power.

     "oday, the wind is also used to make electricity.

    0lowing wind spins the lades on a wind turine H 6ust like a large toypinwheel. "his device is called a wind turine and not a windmill. Awindmill grinds or mills grain, or is used to pump water.

     "he lades o! the turine are attached to a hu that is mounted on aturning sha!t. "he sha!t goes through a gear transmission o) where theturning speed is increased. "he transmission is attached to a high speedsha!t which turns a generator that makes electricity.

    I! the wind gets too high, the turine has a rake that will keep the lades!rom turning too !ast and eing damaged.

     ou can use a single smaller wind turine to power a home or a school. Asmall turine makes enough energy !or a house. In the picture on the le!t,

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    the children at this Iowa school are playing eneath a wind turine thatmakes enough electricity to power their entire school.

    We have many windy areas in Fali!ornia. And wind is lowing in manyplaces all over the earth. "he only prolem with wind is that it is not windyall the time. In Fali!ornia, it is usually windier during the summer monthswhen wind rushes inland !rom cooler areas, like the ocean to replace hot

    rising air in Fali!ornia@s warm central valleys and deserts.

    In order !or a wind turine to work eSciently, wind speeds usually must eaove ;7 to ;3 miles per hour. Wind has to e this speed to turn theturines !ast enough to generate electricity. "he turines usually produceaout 58 to B88 kilowatts o! electricity each. A kilowatt is ;,888 watts %kilomeans ;,888&. ou can light ten ;88 watt light uls with ;,888 watts. 'o,a B88 kilowatt %B88,888 watts& wind turine could light up B,888 lightuls that use ;88 watts

    As o! ;===, there were ;;,BC< wind turines in Fali!ornia. "hese turinesare grouped together in what are called wind :!arms,: like those in *alm

    'prings in the picture on the right. "hese wind !arms are located mostly inthe three windiest areas o! the state#

    • Altamont *ass, east o! 'an 1rancisco

    • 'an Korgonio *ass, near *alm 'prings

    •  "ehachapi, south o! 0akers>eld

     "ogether these three places in Fali!ornia make enough electricity to supplyan entire city the siGe o! 'an 1rancisco Aout ;; percent o! the entireworld@s wind-generated electricity is !ound in Fali!ornia. /ther countriesthat use a lot o! wind energy are Denmark

    and Kermany./nce electricity is made y the turine, the electricity !rom the entire wind!arm is collected together and sent through a trans!ormer. "here thevoltage is increase to send it long distances over high power lines.

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    Chapter 18: enewale Energy vs. 1ossil 1uels

    In Chapter =, we discussed the world@s supply o! !ossil !uels oil, coaland natural gas and how it is eing depleted slowly ecause o! constantuse. 1ossil !uels are not renewale, they can@t e made again. /nce theyare gone, they@re gone.In Chapters 11 to 17, we learned that there@s no shortage o! renewaleenergy !rom the sun, wind and water and even stu$ usually thought o! asgarage dead trees, tree ranches, yard clippings, le!t-over crops,sawdust, even livestock manure, can produce electricity and !uels resources collectively called :iomass.:

     "he sunlight !alling on the nited 'tates in one day contains more than

    twice the energy we consume in an entire year. Fali!ornia has enoughwind gusts to produce ;; percent o! the world@s wind electricity. Fleanenergy sources can e harnessed to produce electricity, process heat, !ueland valuale chemicals with less impact on the environment.

    In contrast, emissions !rom cars !ueled y gasoline and !actories and other!acilities that urn oil a$ect the atmosphere. 1oul air results in so-calledgreenhouse gases. Aout -

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    today. And ethanol !uel costs have plummeted !rom Y3 per gallon in theearly ;=

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    are lost in the +ooded areas aove dams. Downstream, dams change thechemical, physical and iological characteristics o! the river and land.

    nlike !ossil !uels, which dirties the atmosphere, renewale energy hasless impact on the environment enewale energy production has somedrawacks, mainly associated with the use o! large o! tracts o! land thata$ects animal haitats and outdoor scenery. enewale energy

    development will result in 6os and less oil imported !rom !oreigncountries.

    ote: 1or those working on a school assignment comparing renewale vs.non-renewale energy, we@d suggest creating a *ro and Fon list !or eachenergy source. "hat will give you a a way to compare the various energyresources.

    Chapter 1=: Energy !or "ransportation

    In Fali!ornia, aout one-hal! o! ABB the energy we use goes intotransportation H cars, planes, trucks, motorcycles, trains, uses. And o! allthe oil we use in the state aout three-2uarters o! all it goes into makinggasoline and diesel !uel !or vehicles.As we learned in Chapter =, oil goes through a re>nery where it ismade into many di$erent products. 'ome o! them are used !ortransportation# aviation !uel, gasoline and diesel !uel. 1rom the re>nery

    and larger storage tank !arms, transportation !uels are usually trucked toservice stations in tanker trucks. "hese trucks can hold ;8,888 gallons ineach tank. "he tanker trucks deliver the gasoline to the services stations.

    At service stations, the two grades o! gasoline, regular and premium, arekept in separate underground storage tanks. When you pump the gasolineinto your car, you are pumping it !rom those tanks elow ground. (id-grade gasoline is a comination o! the two types. /ther vehicles, such astrucks and some cars use diesel !uel, which is also made !rom oil. It isrought to service stations the same way.

    Fali!ornia has more than 7C million vehicles on its roads. All the vehicles in

    the state used ;3.3 illion gallons o! gasoline in 788;. "hat@s moregasoline that all other countries e)cept !or the nited 'tates and the!ormer 'oviet nion. "his makes Fali!ornia the third-largest user o!gasoline in the 5orl%4ourteen billion gallons o9 gasoline is enough to

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    0urning gasoline, however, creates air pollution. "hat@s why oil companiesare creating newer types o! gasoline that are cleaner than the kind we usetoday. 0eginning in ;==C, all the gasoline sold in Fali!ornia will e thisnewer, cleaner type called :re!ormulated gasoline.: "he main ingredient inthat gas, however, ("0E was !ound to hurt water supplies i! it leaked. 'o,that additive is eing removed y 7885.

    Another concern aout using oil !or transportation is that a lot o! oil usedcomes !orm the (iddle East. "his makes the .'. very vulnerale i! there ispolitical unrest. During the ;=8s, Americans saw long lines at the gaspumps ecause oil !rom the (iddle East was turned o$ y the /il*roducing E)posting Fountries - /*EF. And we@re in in worse shape in7887 ecause we@re importing more and more oil !orm the (iddle Eastthan ever e!ore.

    0ecause o! concerns aout air pollution and petroleum-dependence, newclean-urning !uels made !rom !uels other than oil are eing introduced. "hese !uels include methanol, ethanol, natural gas, propane and even

    electricity. "he car on the right uses methanol, the same !uel used inIndianapolis 'peedway race cars.

    All these !uels are called alternative !uelsecause they are an alternative to gasoline and diesel. Fars and trucksthat use them are called Alternative 1uel Oehicles or A1Os.

    ight now, there are only a small numer o! cars and trucks that arerunning on !uels other than gasoline and diesel. Energy oScials hope,however, that one-2uarter o! all the vehicles will run on alternative !uelsy the year 7875.

    1or more on alternative !uel vehicles, we have a whole section on Energy

    Tuest. Ko to our *ransportation ection.

    http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/index.htmlhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/index.html

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    Chapter 1: 'aving Energy and Energy Fonservation

    'ome o! the energy we can use is called renewale energy. "hese includesolar, wind, geothermal and hydro. "hese types o! energy are constantly

    eing renewed or restored.

    0ut many o! the other !orms o! energy we use inour homes and cars are not eing replenished. 1ossil !uels took millions o!years to create. "hey cannot e made over night.

    And there are >nite or limited amounts o! these non-renewale energy

    sources. "hat means they cannot e renewed or replenished. /nce theyare gone they cannot e used again. 'o, we must all do our part in savingas much energy as we can.

    In your home, you can save energy y turning o$ appliances, "Os andradios that are not eing used, watched or listenedto.

     ou can turn o$ lights when no one is in the room.

    0y putting insulation in walls and attics, we can reduce the amount o!energy it takes to heat or cool our homes.

    Insulating a home is like putting on a sweater or 6acket when we@re cold...instead o! turning up the heat.

     "he outer layers trap the heat inside, keeping it nice and warm.

    ew sp