Earth's Interior
What is the crust?
This thin, brittle, low-density layer of rock covers the Earth's entire surface.
What is a divergent boundary?
At this type of plate boundary, plates move apart as magma rises to the surface and cools.
What is the First Law of Thermodynamics (or Conservation of Energy Principle)?
This law states that "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred from one form to another."
What are marine plankton?
Oil and natural gas are derived from the remains of these organisms that were transformed by heat and pressure.
What is conduction?
The process of heat transfer that depends on a material's type, surface area, and temperature difference, which is often estimated in a home energy audit.
What is the core?
This layer is located at Earth's center and is made of solid iron surrounded by molten iron.
What is plate tectonics?
This is the movement of large plates of the lithosphere, creating about 2-15 cm of movement every year.
Who is James Joule?
This English scientist found that
What is woody organic matter?
Coal is formed from this type of organic matter that is compressed into dense, solid carbon structures.
What is energy conservation?
This practice is defined as reducing wasteful or unnecessary energy use, often resulting from behavioral choices.
What is the asthenosphere?
This layer of the upper mantle contains especially soft rock, over which the lithosphere moves.
What is subduction?
When a more dense oceanic crust dives downward beneath a continental crust at a convergent boundary.
What is 28%?
heat and work are the only two equivalent methods for changing an object's energy.
What is net energy?
The difference between energy returned and energy invested.
What is the Energy Star program?
The U.S. EPA program that labels refrigerators, dishwashers, and other appliances with their efficiency.
What is the mantle?
This dense, elastic layer of rock surrounds the core.
What is an earthquake?
This is the sudden release of energy that occurs at a tectonic plate boundary, or sometimes in the interior of a plate.
What is the joule?
In the U.S., this percentage of total energy consumption is used to power homes and offices.
What is the EROI (Energy Returned On Investment)?
This ratio is calculated by dividing the energy returned by the energy invested, and is used to assess an energy source's efficiency.
What is cogeneration?
The process where excess heat produced during the generation of electricity is captured and used to heat nearby buildings.
What is the lithosphere?
This layer is composed of the uppermost mantle and the crust, and its movement is responsible for plate tectonics.
What is mass wasting (or a landslide)?
The downward gravitational movement of large amounts of rock or soil collapsing and flowing downhill.
What are fossil fuels?
This is the SI unit of energy, named after the scientist who formulated the equivalence of heat and work.
What is methane hydrate?
This non-conventional fossil fuel is a solid consisting of methane molecules embedded in a crystal lattice of water molecules.
The phenomenon where efficiency gains are offset because people engage in more energy-consuming behavior as a result.