2. What is cyanide heap leaching? What are some environmental impacts of using it?

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1 Name: UNIT 7 (Ch 14, 15 & 16) Reading Questions Chapter 14 Geology and Nonrenewable Resources Core Case Study: Environmental Effects of Gold Mining 1. Where does most mining waste end up? How much is often produced? What can mining waste cause? 2. What is cyanide heap leaching? What are some environmental impacts of using it? 14-1 What Are the Earth s Major Geological Processes and Hazards? 3. What is geology? 4. What are the three zones that the Earth is divided into? Describe each one. 5. What is the difference between internal and external geological processes? 6. What are the three types of weathering? What is Parent Material? 7. What was the worst volcanic disasters in U.S. history?

2 8. What are some benefits to volcanic activity? 9. Where do most earthquakes occur? How are they measured? 10. How can effects of earthquakes be minimized? 11. What is a tsunami? What are they the result of? 12. Why was the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean so deadly? 13. What roles do coral reefs and mangrove forest play in the impact the tsunamis can have? 14-2 How Are the Earth s Rocks Recycled? 14. What are the three classes of rocks? How are they formed? List examples. 15. What does the rock cycle do? 16. What three processes recycle rocks?

3 14-3 What Are Mineral Resources and What Are the Environmental Effects of Using Them? 17. What is a mineral resource? 18. What is a nonrenewable mineral resource? 19. What is an ore? What are the two types? 20. List come common ores and way that we use them. 21. What are reserves? 22. What are some environmental effects of mining? 23. What are the two ways to remove mineral deposits? 24. What is overburden? Spoils? 25. List information on each of the following types of surface mining: Open Pit Mining: Strip Mining: Contour Strip Mining: Mountain Top Removal:

4 26. What are spoil banks? 27. Why aren t all surface mining sites cleaned up and restored? 28. Why is underground (subsurface) mining better for the environment? 29. What are some hazards to underground mining? 30. How does mining impact local water supplies? 31. How does mining impact local air quality? 32. What is gangue? 33. What happened in Alamosa, Colorado with the Summitville Gold Mine? 14-4 How Long Will Supplies of Nonrenewable Mineral Resources Last? 34. Why are the earth s mineral resources distributed unevenly? 35. What three countries use the most of the widely used metals available? What percent of the global population do these countries make up?

5 36. What are some reasons the U.S. imports more than 50% of its nonrenewable resources? 37. What two factors does the future supply of nonrenewable mineral supplies depend upon? 38. What does it mean when a resource is economically depleted? 39. What five choices must one make when a resource is economically depleted? 40. What is depletion time? What is the difference between a shortest and longest depletion time? 41. What happens when a resource becomes scarce? What can this lead to? 42. What are some ways that governments control the supplies, demands and prices of minerals? 43. Why are most consumers unaware that the real cost of making products from mineral resources is higher than the marker prices? 44. Why do many critics of government subsidies for U.S. mining companies argue that such subsidies should be eliminated? Why do mining companies argue against such measures?

6 45. What is the U.S. General Mining Law of 1872? 46. What are some issues with this act? Why is it considered to be a license to steal? 47. Why so most mining companies argue against posting bonds? 48. What are some issues with mining lower grade ores? 49. What is biomining? What are some benefits to it? Downsides? 50. Why can t many minerals be extracted from the ocean? 51. What are some concerns with seabed mining? 14-5 How Can We Use Mineral Resources More Sustainably? 52. What types of new materials are starting to replace common metals? 53. What are some metals that plastics are starting to replace? 54. What are some drawbacks to the use of plastics?

7 55. What are some benefits to recycling? 56. What should we be asking ourselves instead of how to increase our supplies of nonrenewable resources? 57. What it 3M s Pollution Prevention Pays program? Was it successful? 58. What is one way that industries can mimic nature? 59. What are some benefits to resource exchange webs? 60. What is a brownfield? 61. What are some benefits to biomimicry? Chapter 15 Nonrenewable Energy 15-1: What Major Sources of Energy Do We Use? 1. What is commercial energy? What percent of commercial energy is nonrenewable? What percent is renewable? Give examples of each. 2. Review the charts, graphs and timelines provided in Supplement 10 (pp. S59-73). What countries (S59) have energy consumption levels greater than 5,000? Where are the major oil, coal, and natural gas deposits (S62) closest to where you live? Looking at the Age of Oil timeline (S64), why was OPEC formed? When are the U.S. oil reserves projected to be 80% depleted? How does Illinois compare to its neighboring states in the number of nuclear power reactors (S65)?

8 3. Give a brief history of human energy use. Science Focus: Net Energy is the Only Energy That Really Counts 4. What is net energy and why is it important in evaluating energy resources? Why does the nuclear power fuel cycle have a low net energy yield? 15-2: What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Oil? 5. What is crude oil (petroleum) and how is it extracted from the earth and refined? 6. What is petrochemical and why are such chemicals important? 7. Who controls most of the world's oil supply? 8. What percentage of the world's proven oil reserves does the United States have? How much of the world's annual oil production does the U.S. use and what percentage of the oil it uses is imported? 9. Describe the relationship between importing oil and fighting terrorism. 10. Explain why the U.S. cannot even come close to meeting its oil needs by increasing domestic oil supplies. Case Study: Oil and the U.S. Arctic national Wildlife Refuge 11. Discuss the pros and cons of drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). 12. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using conventional oil as an energy resource? 13. What is oil sand, or tar sand, and how is it extracted and converted to heavy oil?

9 14. What is shale oil and how is it produced? 15. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using heavy oils produced from oil sand and oil shales as energy resources? 15-3: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas? 16. Define natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG). 17. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using natural gas as an energy resource? 18. What are some problems involved with increasing our use of LNG? 15-4: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal? 19. What is coal and how is it formed? 20. Make a flow chart showing the steps in a coal-burning power plant. 21. Compare the use of coal in the U.S. and China (see the Case Study: Coal Consumption in China). 22. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using coal as an energy resource?

10 23. Does your electricity come from a coal-burning power plant? Where is the closest one to you? 24. What is synthetic natural gas (SNG)? 25. What is coal liquefaction and how can liquid fuels be produced from coal? 26. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using liquid and gaseous synfuels produced from coal? 15-5: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy? 27. How does a nuclear fission reactor work and what are its major safety features? On a separate sheet of paper, make a flow chart showing the steps in a light-water-moderated and -cooled nuclear power plant with a pressurized water reactor. 28. Describe the nuclear fuel cycle. 29. What factors have hindered the development of nuclear power? Case Study: Three Mile Island: America's Worst Commercial Nuclear Power Plant Accident Case Study: Chernobyl: the World's Worst Nuclear Power Plant Accident 30. Describe the nuclear power plant accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. 31. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of relying on nuclear power as a way to produce electricity? 32. How can we deal with highly radioactive wastes produced by nuclear power plants? Case Study: Experts Disagree about What to Do with Radioactive Wastes in the United States

11 33. Describe the controversy over this issue in the U.S. 34. What are our options for safely retiring worn out nuclear power plants? 35. Discuss the degree to which nuclear power can reduce dependence on imported oil. 36. Discuss the question of whether using nuclear power can help to significantly slow projected global warming. Science Focus: Are New Second-Generation Nuclear Reactors the Answer? 37. Discuss the pros and cons of building safer nuclear reactors. List the problems encountered in using breeder reactors. 38. What is nuclear fusion and what is its potential as an energy resource? 39. Summarize the arguments for and against relying more on nuclear power. Chapter 16 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Core Case Study: Iceland s Vision of a Renewable Energy Economy 1. Where does Iceland get three fourths of all its energy from? 2. Why does Iceland have to import all its oil? 3. What does Iceland hope to become by the year 2050?

12 4. What is the byproduct of burning hydrogen fueled cars? 16-1 Why is Energy Efficiency an Important Energy Resource? 5. What is the difference between energy conservation and energy efficiency? 6. How much commercial energy is wasted in the US? How much does it cost the US? 7. How do most American s get to work? 8. What are some economic and environmental advantages to reducing energy waste? 9. What is the cheapest and cleanest power plant in the world? 10. What are the outdated four? 11. What are some alternatives to these outdated four 12. Compare electricity from a Nuclear Power Plant and a passive solar system? 16-2 How Can We Cut Energy Waste? 13. What is cogeneration?

13 14. What are four ways we can cut energy waste? 15. How effectively has Dow Chemical Company been at reducing energy waste? 16. What are CAFÉ standards? What impact have they had on fuel economy? 17. Why can t the US sell out cars in other countries? 18. What are some reasons that American s don t realize how much gasoline costs them? 19. What are some hidden costs of gasoline? 20. How would a feebate program encourage people to purchase more fuel efficient cars? 21. What impacts would replacing current US cars with more efficient plug-in vehicles have? 22. Compare a fuel cell to an internal combustion engine.

14 23. What is green architecture? 24. What is LEED certification? 25. What are some ways that older buildings can be retrofitted to save energy? 26. What is a problem with compact CFL s? 27. What are some reasons we are still wasting so much energy? 28. What is a rebound effect? 29. What would be some advantages to shifting towards locally renewable energy resources? 30. What are two reasons why renewable energy isn t cheaper then fossil fuels or nuclear energy?

15 16-3 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy? 31. What is a passive solar heating system? How long have they been around? 32. What is an active solar heating system? 33. How can active solar heating systems be used to heat water? How common is this? 34. What are some ways we can cool buildings naturally? 35. What are some trade-offs for using solar energy for high temperature heat and electricity? 36. Why is it good that desert solar systems have peak energy production during the middle of the day? 37. What are some advantages to using solar cookers? 38. What are photovoltaic cells?

16 39. What are some advantages of solar cells? 40. What is the key problem with solar cells? 41. Looking at Table 16-1 what is the most expensive way to produce electricity? Least expensive? 42. How popular is the solar power industry becoming in the United States? 16-4 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Producing Electricity From the Water Cycle? 43. What is hydropower? 44. What is the most common way to harness hydropower? 45. How does hydropower compare to other renewable energy resources? 46. What are some advantages with large scale hydroelectric power? 47. What are some concerns with hydropower plants?

17 48. How is global warming connected to using hydrothermal plants? 49. What are some advantages to micro hydropower plants? 50. What is tidal and wave power? 51. Why will tidal and wave power only make small contributions to world electricity supplies? 16-5 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Producing Electricity from Wind? 52. Who produces most of the world s wind power? 53. What are some advantages to the US becoming the world s largest consumer and producer of wind power? 54. What are some advantages to wind power? 55. What are some disadvantages to wind power? 56. Why do some people have a NIMBY attitude about wind farms?

18 57. Why do some people have a PIMBY attitude about wind farms? 16-6 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass as an Energy Source? 58. What is biomass? 59. What are some reasons that biomass is burned? 60. How is biomass causing a fuelwood crisis? 61. What are some efficient ways to produce biomass fuels? 62. What are some advantages of burning solid biomass as a fuel? 63. What are some disadvantages of burning solid biomass as a fuel? 64. What are biofuels? 65. What are some advantages of biofuels over gasoline and diesel?

19 66. What are some problems with using biofuels? 67. What is biodiesel? 68. What are some issues with the US increasing its biodiesel production? 69. What are some advantages to using biodiesel instead of gasoline? 70. What are some disadvantages to using biodiesel instead of gasoline? 71. What is ethanol? 72. In the United States what is most ethanol made from? Why is this controversial? 73. How could producing ethanol produce more carbon dioxide emissions than burning fossil fuels? How would it impact water supplies? 74. How has the production of ethanol impacted the price of corn in the US?

20 75. What are some advantages and disadvantages to using switch grass instead of ethanol? 16-7 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy? 76. What is geothermal energy and what can it be used for? 77. What are some advantages to geothermal heat pump systems? 78. Where does the United States produce most of its geothermal electricity? 79. What are two main problems with geothermal energy? 16-8 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydrogen as an Energy Source? 80. How do fuel cells work? 81. What are some advantages to hydrogen fuel? 82. What are three catches to hydrogen fuel? 83. How much would a gallon of hydrogen gas derived from natural gas cost? 84. What are some disadvantages of hydrogen fuel?

21 16-9 How Can We Make a Transition to More Sustainable Energy Future? 85. What does our energy future depend upon? 86. What does the Supply Side or hard path approach favor? 87. What does the Demand Side or soft path approach favor? 88. What are three general conclusions that scientist have come to regarding possible energy paths? 89. What is the key towards shifting to a more sustainable energy future? 90. What are three strategies that governments can use to help change short and long term use of particular energy resources? 91. How can individuals vote with their pocketbooks? 92. Why do residents of California pay the most for electricity? 93. What are some things that you can do to shift towards more sustainable energy use?