Renewable Resources
What makes a resource renewable?
Nature replaces it within a time scale people can use.
Name three fossil fuels.
Coal, oil, and natural gas.
What does “uneven distribution” mean when describing Earth’s resources?
Resources are more plentiful in some places than others.
What did the chocolate chips represent in our mining lab?
Valuable mineral resources.
Electricity is generated using moving air. Which resource is being used, and is it renewable or nonrenewable?
Wind; renewable.
Why is sunlight considered renewable?
Using sunlight does not use up the Sun’s supply of energy.
Why are fossil fuels nonrenewable?
They take millions of years to form and are used much faster than they are replaced.
Why doesn’t every location have the same mineral and energy resources?
Locations have different geologic histories and formation conditions.
What did the damaged cookie represent?
Land disturbed by mining.
A car uses gasoline made from oil. Is its energy source renewable or nonrenewable? Explain.
Nonrenewable because oil takes millions of years to form.
Why can a forest become depleted even though trees are renewable?
Trees can be cut down faster than new ones grow.
Why is a mineral resource still nonrenewable even if we can recycle it?
Recycling reuses existing material; new mineral deposits still form very slowly.
How can moving water help concentrate mineral particles in one area?
Water carries particles and deposits them where it slows down.
What did trying to repair the cookie model?
Reclamation, or repairing land after mining.
A power plant uses flowing water to generate electricity. Identify the energy source and explain why it is renewable.
Hydroelectric energy; the water cycle replenishes the water supply.
Explain one advantage and one limitation of solar energy.
It uses renewable sunlight, but energy production depends on available sunlight.
A student says, “Earth can make more coal, so coal is renewable.” What is wrong with this reasoning?
it ignores how long coal takes to form compared with how quickly people use it.
Why might an area that was once a swamp contain coal today?
Plant remains accumulated and were buried, then changed by heat and pressure over millions of years.
Why might removing every chocolate chip be a poor mining decision?
Getting the remaining chips could cause greater damage or require more time and effort than they are worth.
A wooden desk and a metal desk both use natural resources. Which material comes from a renewable resource, and which comes from a nonrenewable resource? Explain.
Wood comes from trees that can regrow. Metal comes from mineral deposits that are not replaced on a human time scale.
A student claims renewable energy never harms the environment. Give an example that challenges this claim.
A dam can change river habitats, or clearing land for energy production can remove habitats.
Explain how conserving and recycling are different ways to protect nonrenewable resources.
Conserving reduces how much we use. Recycling allows existing materials to be used again.
Two places have similar climates today, but only one has a large coal deposit. Explain why.
Coal deposits depend on past environments and geologic processes, not just today’s climate.
What is one limitation of using a cookie to model real mining? Explain.
Answers vary: a cookie cannot fully show effects such as water pollution, wildlife displacement, or years of habitat recovery.
A solar panel uses renewable sunlight but contains metals obtained through mining. Explain how it depends on both renewable and nonrenewable resources.
Sunlight supplies renewable energy, while the metals used to build the panel come from nonrenewable mineral resources.