Flashcards
P1.3 - Generating Electricity
Cards in this deck (64)
- 1what are non renewable energy sources?*coal
*oil
*gas
*nuclear fuels (uranium and plutonium) - 2what are the disadvantages of non renewable energy sources?*will run out one day
*harmful to environment
*provide most of our energy so cant be without - 3how do power stations provide our energy?*fossil fuels burnt in boiler to become heat energy
*used to heat water to make steam
*steam turns turbines to convert heat to kinetic energy
*generator converts kinetic energy to electrical energy
*transported to national grid to travel to homes - 4what is the energy transfer in power stations?*chemical
*heat
*kinetic
*electrical - 5what is the difference in nuclear power stations to normal power stations?nuclear fission is used to create heat to make steam so the boiler is different
- 6what are the advantages of nuclear?*more energy - 1g of uranium gives 10,000 times more energy than 1g oil
*no co2
*nuclear fuel is relatively cheap - 7what are the disadvantages of nuclear?*dangerous radioactive waste
*difficult to dispose of waste
*people risk irradiation and contamination
*strict safety precautions needed
*it is controversial as some worried
*overall cost is high - 8what is irradiation?contact without actually meeting the source and goes away shortly
- 9what is contamination?comes with direct contact to the source and stays for a long time and is more dangerous
- 10what is wind power?wind mills put in areas such as coasts, moors, and each contains a generator
- 11what are the advantages of wind power?*no pollution once installed
*no fuel costs
*minimal running costs
*no permanent landscape damage - 12what are the disadvantages of wind power?*they spoil the view
*need a lot - 1500 to replace a coal power station
*noisy
*need lots of wind
*impossible to increase supply when extra demand
*initial costs high - 13what are solar cells?generate electric currents directly from sunlight
- 14what are the advantages of solar cells?*good source of things that don't need a lot of energy like watches and calculators
*good for remote places that cant get power from general mainstream means
*no pollution
*reliable, can even be used in clouds
*energy costs free
*running cost minimal - 15what are the disadvantages of solar cells?*needs sunlight of day
*initial costs high
*small scale electricity generation
*not financially practical to connect to national grid due to amount produced - 16what is wave power?lots of wave powered turbines around coast and up and down wave motion used to drive turbines
- 17what are the advantages of wave power?*no pollution
*no fuel costs
*minimal running costs
*useful on small islands - 18what are the disadvantages of wave power?*spoil view
*hazard to boats
*unreliable as waves can drop easily
*initial costs high
*not likely to provide large scale energy - 19what are tidal barrages?big dams built across river estuaries with turbines. tide comes in, turns turbines and can be let out at controlled speed. source of energy is gravity from sun and moon
- 20what are the advantages of tidal barrages?*no pollution
*reliable twice a day tides
*tides always near predicted height
*excellent at storing energy for peak demand periods
*no fuel costs and minimum running costs
*has potential to produce a lot of energy - 21what are the disadvantages of tidal barrages?*prevents free access by boats
*spoils view
*altering habitat of wildlife
*height of tide is variable and low tides produce less energy
*don't work when water level is equal both sides of barrage
*initial costs high - 22what are biofuels?plants and waste burnt in a normal power station to produce heat
- 23give named examples of: -solid biofuel -liquid biofuel -gas biofuel*woodchips and straw
*ethanol
*methane biogas from sludge digester) - 24what are the advantages of biofuels?*quick source of energy
*carbon neutral
*can be used in some cars - 25what are the disadvantages of biofuels?*deforestation to make space to grow plants
*so species lose habitats
*increases co2 and methane emissions - 26what is geothermal energy?cold water pumped down pipes to hot rocks in earth and returns as steam which turns turbines
- 27what are the advantages of geothermal energy?*free energy
*no environmental problems - 28what are the disadvantages of geothermal energy?*cost of drilling several km into the earth
*only a few places where this is possible or practical - 29what is hydroelectric power?flooding a valley, building a dam, rainwater is caught and allowed through turbines which drives them and then the normal power station process is followed
- 30what are the advantages of hep?*no pollution
*location in remote valleys reduces human impact
*provides immediate response to increases demand
*reliable except in doubt
*no fuel costs
*minimal running costs - 31what are the disadvantages of hep?*flooding valley big environmental impact
*rotting vegetation releases co2 and methane
*species lose their habitats
*dried up reservoirs look bad
*initial costs high - 32what causes the water to fall through the turbines in hep?gravity
- 33what do power stations have to do and what does this cause?keep boilers on at all times of the day and it creates a surplus energy in the night
- 34what is the surplus energy used for?to pump water to a high reservoir which can be quickly released in times of high demand
- 35what is pumped storage similar to?hep but stores energy doesn't generate it
- 36what are environmental issues of non renewable energy?*release of co2 (most coal least gas)
*adds to greenhouse effect and global warming
*coal and oil releases sulphur dioxide which causes acid rain
*'open cast mining' of coal ruins landscapes
*oil spillages effects mammals and birds
*nuclear waste is dangerous and difficult to dispose of - 37what does carbon capture and storage do?reduces amount of co2 in atmosphere by collecting co2 before released in atmosphere and pumps into empty gas and oil fields (ie under north sea)
- 38what new methods are being explored involving ccs?storing co2 dissolved in seawater at bottom of ocean and capturing co2 with algae which can then be used to produce an oil that can be used as a biofuel
- 39what power stations are being decommissioned (no longer used) and why?coal and oil as they are running out fast
- 40what affects the set up costs of a power station?*renewable sources are often bigger so need more money to build
*nuclear and hep need a lot of engineering to make them safe which costs a lot - 41what is set up/decommissioning time of a power station affected by?*size
*complexity of engineering
*planning issues (public discussions)
*gas one of quickest to set up
*nuclear slowest to set up and decommission - 42what is the reliability like of power stations?*non renewable most reliable until they run out
*many renewables rely on weather which isn't always reliable
*tidal and geothermal most reliable renewable - 43what are some of the specific locations that power stations have to be close to?*solar - sunnier the better
*gas - anywhere piped to gas (most of uk)
*hydroelectric - hilly, rainy, floodable place
*wind - exposed and windy like coast and moors
*oil - coastal as oil transported by sea
*waves - costal
*coal - near mines ie Yorkshire and Wales
*nuclear - away from people close to water for cooling
*tidal - estuary near dam
*geothermal - limited, hot rocks near surface - 44what forms of generating energy causes atmospheric pollution?coal, oil, gas
- 45what forms of generating energy uses up resources?coal, oil, gas, nuclear
- 46what forms of generating energy causes visual pollution?coal, oil, gas, nuclear, tidal, waves, geothermal, wind, hep
- 47what forms of generating energy causes noise pollution?coal, oil, gas, nuclear, wind
- 48what forms of generating energy causes habitat destruction?hydroelectric, tidal, biofuels
- 49what forms of generating energy causes disruption to activities?tidal and wave (boats)
- 50what forms of generating energy causes explosions?nuclear
- 51what forms of generating energy causes floods?hep
- 52which type of energy has the lowest running costs?renewables as no fuel involved
- 53what is the national grid?network of pylons and cables that covers the whole of Britain that gets electricity to homes everywhere
- 54how does the national grid transport energy in the cheapest but most effective way and what helps it to do this?high voltage and low current as lots of heat is lost with high current and transformers set up and step down voltage where apropriate
- 55how can electricity be transmitted?overhead or underground cables
- 56do overhead or underground cables have the lowest set up costs?overhead
- 57do overhead or underground cables have the most maintenance?overhead
- 58do overhead or underground cables have the hardest access?underground
- 59do overhead or underground cables have the worst appearance?overhead
- 60do overhead or underground cables get affected by weather?overhead
- 61do overhead or underground cables have the most reliability?underground
- 62do overhead or underground cables have the easiest process to set up?overhead
- 63do overhead or underground cables have the most disturbance to land?underground
- 64what is happening to energy demand and how can this be resolved?*increasing
*building more power stations
*increasing power output
*reducing demand
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- GCSE Physics Flashcards on P1.3 - Generating Electricity, created by scottjowett on 11/06/2015.
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