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Alternative sources to fossil fuel to avoid energy crices
Questions and answers to water cycle
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Water What is something liquid and is used to create power? Water! Unlike coal and natural gas, water is a renewable resource. A renewable resource is a natural resource that can be replaced at which the resource is consumed. Water is a resource the world has come to depend on. In the following paragraphs you will read about the water cycle, how a hydroelectric dam works and the pros and cons of hydropower. What is the water cycle? What powers the water cycle? The water cycle is the process of steps that water goes through by evaporating and and precipitating. Gravity and the sun both control the water cycle. Gravity pulls water down hill in rivers and streams. Gravity also causes it to rain. The sun evaporates the water to the clouds. This shows how gravity and the sun control the water cycle and what the water cycle is. How do hydroelectric dams work to make electricity? There are three main parts of a hydroelectric dam. The first part is the reservoir. A reservoir stores water behind the dam. The next part is the dam. The dam open and closes to control water flow. The final main part is the turbines. As water passes through the turbine, the blades spin creating energy. Even though there are three main parts, there are many other parts that help create energy in a …show more content…
Some advantages of using water power are it is cheap, little pollution, and can be used for multiple things. Even though building a hydroelectric dam is expensive, after it is built,the energy production is free. As was mentioned above, power is generated by water flowing through a turbine and rotating blades. Because nothing is being burned, there is little pollution created using a hydroelectric dam. Part of a hydroelectric dam, is a reservoir. A reservoir can be used for recreation such as boating, swimming and much more. Therefore, there are many advantages to a hydroelectric
Water has three stages—liquid, gas and solid. Water on Earth can be liquid as rain, streams, or oceans. It can be a solid like hail, ice or snow. It can be a gas like vapor, steam or clouds. As described by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences (2010), the hydrologic cycle is the process of water changing from liquid to gas to solid. The energy of the sun drives the changes to water. When water is heated up, it evaporates, turning into a gas to form steam or vapor. The water vapor rises with warm air that when meets cooler air, condenses to form clouds. These clouds and water vapor can be transported around the world. Precipitation is when water falls to Earth, in warmer temperatures as liquid and in temperatures, as a solid. On Earth, precipitation can evaporate again or infiltrate the Earth to become groundwater. As ground water it can collect in oceans, rivers or on snowy mountaintops and glaciers. It can also be released back into the atmosphere via transpiration, when water evaporates off soil, trees. When water evaporates, the cycle starts again.
There are numerous stages that take place simultaneously in the hydrologic cycle and this includes evaporation. This is when the water alters from a liquid state into a gas. The damp air from the water rises into the atmosphere and when it cools, the vapor condenses and shapes into clouds. But those billows are not the only form the vapors make; it can also materialize as dew, fog and mist, which blanket the Earth, characteristically on a rainy or humid day. Evaporation takes place when water changes from a liquid state into a gaseous state, and ascents out of the pores of the earth and into the atmosphere as a vapor (“How”). While evaporation is taking place, condensation is also occurring. When the temperature in the air plunges, the clouds become heavy and as a result they relieve themselves of the extra weight, which is called precipitation. This produces rain, hail, snow and sleet, conditioned upon the temperate. As the precipitation falls, it enters the surface of the ground and percolates into the soil, which is called infiltration. The more porous the land is, the more the infiltration can take place. However, the ground cannot hold all of that water and floods. The excess rainfall, which is also called runoff that has not been absorbed makes its way into bodies of water, such as small ponds, rivers, lakes and parts of the ocean (“Summary”).
Perlman, Howard. "Hydroelectric Power Water Use." Hydroelectric Power and Water. Basic Information about Hydroelectricity, USGS Water Science for Schools. N.p., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
The hydrologic cycle is a process that moves water throughout the Earth’s environment. “In terms of water, the earth is a closed system, so water isn’t added or removed from earth; it’s simply transformed, transported, and recycled” (Spooner, 2013). This process, driven by energy provided by the sun, cycles water in a never-ending cycle between the oceans, sky and land. The process begins with the sun causing evaporation of surface waters of the oceans. The vaporized water droplets attach themselves to dust particles and form clouds. In a relative short amount of time, the water vapor transforms into precipitation and falls in to Earth as rain, snow or other form of precipitation.
The use of turbines from dams to provide power was a brilliant idea until water levels started running lower than normal. The water waste from humanity is directly contributing to portions of it, aside from drought conditions affected by pollution, widespread fires battled, and more adds to the depletion thereof. When humanity is relying on power provided from dams to handle the demand, they are essentially relying on the assumption that water levels will always be there to provide it. The Hoover Dam provides power to the southwestern portion of the USA that has a large number of people.
Yet, there is no such thing as “clean hydro power,” with the exception of very small-scale hydropower dams at the individual or neighborhood level. Hydro powered dams can cause major fluctuations in downstream flows, and even dewater the stream channel, leading to direct death of fish and other species. The main effects of a dam on a river is that it disrupts flows, lowers water quality, blocks the movement of rivers vital nutrients and sediment, destroys fish and wildlife habitat, and eliminates recreational opportunities. Reservoirs slow and broaden rivers, making them warmer, reducing water quality, and harboring destructive nonnative species that scatter throughout the watershed and prey on and compete with native wildlife. The environmental, economic, and social impacts of a dam and reservoir may run the entire length of the river from the highest mountain peaks that feed the headwaters to the river’s outlet at the ocean according to
Hydro power is one of many examples of alternative energy sources. Hydro power produces energy by moving water. Wind power is another form of solar power. Wind isn’t only a clean fuel source, but it is one of the most inexpensive alternative sources of energy.
The “Hydropower” National Geographic. n. d. a. d. a. d 1 April 2014. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/hydropower- profile /.> “Hydropower as a Renewable Energy Source” naturalresources.house.gov. Web.
...lems in the south west would be resolved. Luckily, many engineers already had the answer to our problems. Turbines were used to make the electricity from the falling of the water. Much like an electrical motor gone backwards, the turbines were very useful. They consisted of a motor, which was inside of a magnetic field. The rotating of a motor in a magnetic field resulted in an alternating electrical current. Due to the monstrosity of the turbines, a lot of electricity was able to be generated. The electrical output of the seventeen turbines used is over 4 billion kilowatt hours. This is a lot of electricity being put out by the falling of water through this dam. This power is used primarily in California, Nevada, and Arizona.
The construction of hydroelectric dams, especially the construction of large dams in the river, is a comprehensive engineering project. It often requires several years or even ten years to complete. On the one hand, during the construction period, intensive engineering construction will produce a large number of engineering and living waste, solid waste, and wastewater. On the other hand, with the completion of the dam, the huge construction team will leave, so the construction personnel generally will not spend a huge amounts of money to build large-scale solid waste and wastewater treatment
The first type of renewable energy is hydroelectric energy or well known as hydropower. In greek word, hydro means water and thus hydroelectric energy refers to electricity generated using flowing water at high velocity. Lutgens and Tarbuck (1992, p. 163) stated that “running water is of great importance to people as we depend upon rivers for energy, travel and irrigation”. Continuous availability of water in universe made water to be the main source of hydroelectric energy. Water has been widely utilized by mankind since the beginning of civilization and wate...
The water is essential factor available on planet earth to make the life possible. The water cycle contains the largest chemical flux on earth (Robarts & Wetzel, 2000). The water is the eminent factor which dispenses heat around the globe by the process of the water cycle. The process of evaporation from the surface of the earth to the atmosphere condenses and falls as precipitation back on the earth surface is the simple process of the water cycle.
Global warming is an extremely important and troubling aspect of the world’s current situation. This is due to the fact that the majority of the world’s energy production is from non-renewable energy sources, which are energy sources that either can not be naturally replenished or require thousands of years to be restored. Based on our current energy usage growth rates, there are an estimated 100 years left before our natural resource reserves are exhausted. (Non Renewable Natural Resources: How Much Is Left, Environmental Thinker) China alone consumes nearly as much coal as the combined usage of coal from the rest of the world. (US Energy Information Administration, China Consumes Nearly as Much Coal as the Rest of the World Combined) There is visible evidence of this happening with the increasing pollution levels. Carbon Dioxide and Methane pollution levels in the world reached a record high in 2012 and are 260% higher than the pre-industrial levels. (UN: CO2 Pollution Levels at a Record High, John Heilprin) Converting our world into a more renewable energy dependent society is the most advantageous and likely method for preserving our dwindling fossil fuel supply while also protecting the world that we call home.
How exactly does hydropower work, though? As it turns out, dams are the main source of harvesting energy via hydropower. There are about 80,000 dams in the United States, although not all are active producers of power. There are four main types of hydropower facilities, which all require turbines: impoundment, diversion, run-of-river, and pumped storage. Also, there are two main types of hydro turbines: impulse turbines and reaction turbines ("Hydropower…”).
Third of all, the water that falls in the dam can also generate electricity. For instance, 19% of world electricity comes from water. Regardless of the fact that hydroelectric power has low maintenance costs and does not pollute the environment, it can cause earthquakes, and destroy wild rivers. Only 0.3% of world energy comes from Earth.