Chapter 17 - Nonrenewable Energy

What is the main reason why fewer nuclear power plants are being built today compared to 40 years ago?

• Nuclear fusion power plants are being built instead.

• Federal laws were passed prohibiting the development of new nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear power plants have become too expensive to generate electricity at a reasonable cost.

• Supplies of U235 are exhausted.

Which of the following accurately describes the use of fossil fuels for energy?

• At the present rate, we will run out of fossil fuels in about 250 years.

• Burning fossil fuels releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

• Fossil fuels account for 69 percent of the electricity generated in the United States.

• All of the above

Electric generators work by

• converting oil into electricity.

• turning turbines in a dam.

• converting mechanical energy into electrical energy.

• rubbing copper against a substance that does not conduct electricity.

Oil and natural gas result from

• the migration of complex carbohydrate molecules to nonporous rock formations.

• the decay of tiny marine organisms that accumulated on the ocean floor millions of years ago.

• the burning of high-sulfur, low-grade uranium.

• the decay of plants that lived in swamps hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Inside the combustion chamber of a coal-fired power plant,

• steam is directed against turbine blades and causes the blades to turn.

• the turbine sets the generator in motion.

• electricity is generated.

• burning fossil fuels release energy in the form of heat.

Most of the energy consumed in the United States is used for

• residential electrical needs.

• commercial electrical needs.

• transportation.

• industrial purposes.

Between 1990 and 2006, the energy needs in the United States

• rose dramatically.

• fell dramatically.

• stayed about the same.

• rose slightly.

A nuclear reactor is

• powered by a combustion chamber in which uranium is burned.

• surrounded by a thick pressure vessel that is filled with a cooling fluid.

• superheated by water until the control rods are set into motion.

• constructed from thick aluminum walls that can control the nuclear reactions.

New nuclei and neutrons result from

• nuclear fusion.

• the release of electrons from a positively charged atom.

• the splitting of an atom’s nucleus.

• the splitting of an atom’s neutron.

Nuclear fusion

• must take place at extremely high temperatures.

• does not release a great amount of energy.

• must take place in low-density containers.

• results in nuclei that are lighter in weight than the nuclei that existed before the reaction.