Susan McGlothlin Kincaid
January 29, 2015
Professor Andrew Elliot
Energy
Energy:
The Oxford American Dictionary describes mass as a coherent body of matter of indefinite shape and energy as the capacity of matter or radiation to do work. The Theory of Relativity by Albert Einstein allows that matter and mass are one and the same. One does not exist without the other. Thus in a closed isolated structure energy and matter are said to be conserved, but both are separately conserved (constant). “A consequence of this law is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one state to another.” (Visual Topic Models, 2012) One thing can change in this structure which is energy changing form.
There are many forms of energy, if matter converts into a a form that is non-matter like heat or light, there is no mass lost in the amount of matter that is used in this conversion. When we look at fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, these are considered non-renewable resources. Fossil fuels have formed over thousands of years from combinations of types of organic matter like plants and animals that were slowly covered or buried by layers of dirt and rock. This plus the changeable pressures an temperatures of the region. These fossils are either refined for fuels of burned to produce electricity. This is not a clean form of energy and winds up only producing about 20% of what was used into energy. (Elliot, 2015)
Next we will discuss a renewable energy resource called hydropower, water produced or pushed by vast tidal power. This resource is mostly untapped. Researchers are trying to develop a way to harness more of water powered clean energy. “This includes investments in
Energy:
existing hydropower facilities to equip them with the necessary infrastructure to produce electricity and heading marine and...