Unit C Lesson C12 Energy Sources
Completion requirements
Lesson C12: Energy Sources
Video Lesson
Humans use thermal energy for heat, electricity, and transportation. Watch this video to learn more about various sources of energy.
Lesson C12: Energy Sources
Figure C.4.12.1– The beach is exposed during low tide on the Bay of Fundy.
Figure C.4.12.2– High tide covers the beach in the Bay of Fundy.
Tidal Energy
Tides occur on ocean coastlines where the water level of the ocean rises and falls twice per day. Most coastlines change only one metre or so between low tide and high tide. Dramatic tide changes occur on some coastlines, such as the Bay of Fundy in Atlantic Canada. Water levels in the Bay of Fundy change 10 to 14 metres between low tides and high tides. The Bay of Fundy has some of the highest tides in the world.
The movement of water in large tides can be used to spin machines called turbines. The rotating motion of a turbine is used to generate electricity. Energy sourced from tides is increasingly being researched and developed because it is a renewable energy source. Nova Scotia has a tidal power generating station on the Bay of Fundy, and it has more under development.
Tides occur on ocean coastlines where the water level of the ocean rises and falls twice per day. Most coastlines change only one metre or so between low tide and high tide. Dramatic tide changes occur on some coastlines, such as the Bay of Fundy in Atlantic Canada. Water levels in the Bay of Fundy change 10 to 14 metres between low tides and high tides. The Bay of Fundy has some of the highest tides in the world.
The movement of water in large tides can be used to spin machines called turbines. The rotating motion of a turbine is used to generate electricity. Energy sourced from tides is increasingly being researched and developed because it is a renewable energy source. Nova Scotia has a tidal power generating station on the Bay of Fundy, and it has more under development.
Reading and Materials for This Lesson:
Science in Action 7
Materials:
Science in Action 7
Reading: Pages 238–244
Materials:
empty pop bottle, marbles, scissors, square sheet of paper (21 cm on each side), pencil, wooden skewer, masking tape, 30 cm of string, paper clip, hair dryer
Watch More
Tidal Energy
Watch this video to learn more about tidal energy.
Watch this video to learn more about tidal energy.
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power plants contain reactors that cause tiny fuel particles to split apart. When fuel particles split in a nuclear reaction, huge amounts of thermal energy are released. In a nuclear power plant, this thermal energy is used to heat water into steam. Moving steam forces turbines to spin, generating electricity.
Uranium is the fuel used in nuclear power plants. Uranium is mined from rocks. About 20% of the world’s uranium comes from mines in northern Saskatchewan. Uranium ore contains various types of uranium that cannot be used directly in nuclear reactors. Useful uranium must be extracted from rock ore before it can be used in nuclear reactors.
Canada has five nuclear power stations in Ontario (like this one in Pickering), Quebec, and New Brunswick.
Nuclear power plants contain reactors that cause tiny fuel particles to split apart. When fuel particles split in a nuclear reaction, huge amounts of thermal energy are released. In a nuclear power plant, this thermal energy is used to heat water into steam. Moving steam forces turbines to spin, generating electricity.
Uranium is the fuel used in nuclear power plants. Uranium is mined from rocks. About 20% of the world’s uranium comes from mines in northern Saskatchewan. Uranium ore contains various types of uranium that cannot be used directly in nuclear reactors. Useful uranium must be extracted from rock ore before it can be used in nuclear reactors.
Canada has five nuclear power stations in Ontario (like this one in Pickering), Quebec, and New Brunswick.
Figure C.4.12.3– Nuclear power stations produce large amounts of thermal energy from small amounts of fuel.
Figure C.4.12.4– Nuclear reactors split uranium particles.
Figure C.4.12.5– Miners remove uranium from rocks for nuclear energy fuel.
Watch More
Nuclear Energy
Watch this video to learn more about nuclear energy.
Watch this video to learn more about nuclear energy.
Nuclear Disasters
Nuclear energy has some advantages. Nuclear power plants produce lots of energy using small amounts of fuel. Nuclear energy does not produce polluting soot or greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
Nuclear energy has some advantages. Nuclear power plants produce lots of energy using small amounts of fuel. Nuclear energy does not produce polluting soot or greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
Many safety measures are used at nuclear power plants. However, an accident at a nuclear power plant can cause a lot of harm. Nuclear reactors produce nuclear waste that contains invisible radioactive energy. Exposure to excessive levels of radioactivity
causes extreme health problems in humans, including radiation sickness and cancer.
If an accident occurs at a nuclear power station, high amounts of radioactivity can escape into the environment. The worst-ever nuclear power plant disaster happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. An explosion at the power plant sent radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread across Europe. More recently, a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, was damaged by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami waves flooded the power station, causing radioactive substances to leak into the Pacific Ocean.
If an accident occurs at a nuclear power station, high amounts of radioactivity can escape into the environment. The worst-ever nuclear power plant disaster happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. An explosion at the power plant sent radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread across Europe. More recently, a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, was damaged by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami waves flooded the power station, causing radioactive substances to leak into the Pacific Ocean.
Figure C.4.12.6– Chernobyl, Ukraine, is the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
Figure C.4.12.7– The rold Chernobyl nuclear reactor is encased in cement to prevent nuclear radiation leaks.
Figure C.4.12.8– Sites of nuclear disasters can be closed off for many years.
Watch More
Nuclear Disasters
This video shows the remains of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
This video shows the remains of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
The remains of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster were covered in cement to prevent nuclear radiation leaks. The power plant needs a new cover structure because the old cement started to crumble. Watch this video to learn more.
Watch this video to learn more about the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster.
Wind Energy
Groups of wind turbines, or wind farms, are built in windy locations. Southwestern Alberta is very windy, which makes it a good place to produce wind energy. The area around Pincher Creek and Lethbridge is one of the windiest places in Canada, which makes it ideal for wind farms.
Often, oceans are more reliably windy than land is. For this reason, increasing numbers of offshore wind farms are being developed in the ocean. Powerful ocean winds are able to generate large amounts of renewable energy.
Figure C.4.12.9– Wind farms consist of many wind turbines in the same location.
Figure C.4.12.10– Wind turbines turn to generate electricity.
Figure C.4.12.11– Some wind farms are located in the ocean.
Watch More
Wind Power
Watch this video to learn more about wind power.
Watch this video to learn more about wind power.
This news report explains an offshore wind farm in Germany.
Try It!
Build a Wind Turbine
Try this simple experiment to build a wind turbine.
Try this simple experiment to build a wind turbine.
Materials:
- empty pop bottle
- marbles
- scissors
- square sheet of paper, 21 cm on each side
- pencil
- wooden skewer
- masking tape
- 30 cm of string
- paper clip
-
hair dryer
Safety Warning
Take care with scissors; don't cut yourself or anyone else!
Instructions:
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Use
these instructions to make a pinwheel from your square of paper. Instead of sticking a pin through the layers, stick the wooden skewer through the layers.
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Tape the skewer to the pinwheel so that the pinwheel does not spin freely on the skewer.
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Cut the top off an empty pop bottle. With the scissors, make two small holes at the top of the pop bottle, on opposite sides of the bottle.
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Fill the pop bottle with marbles to stabilize it.
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Insert the pinwheel wooden skewer through the two holes at the top of the pop bottle. The pinwheel skewer should spin freely in the pop bottle holes.
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Tie the string to the empty side of the skewer. Tie a paper clip to the other end of the string.
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Turn on the hair dryer and aim it toward the pinwheel. Use the cool setting on the hair dryer, and hold it about half a metre or more from the paper.
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Observe how the wind turbine spins to roll up the string and paper clip.
Make sure you have understood everything in this lesson. Use the Self-Check below, and the Self-Check & Lesson Review Tips to
guide your learning.
Unit C Lesson 11 Self-Check
Instructions
Complete the following 6 steps.
Don't skip steps – if you do them in order, you will confirm your
understanding of this lesson and create a study bank for the future.
- DOWNLOAD the self-check quiz by clicking here.
- ANSWER all the questions on the downloaded quiz in the spaces provided. Think carefully before typing your answers. Review this lesson if you need to. Save your quiz when you are done.
- COMPARE your answers with the suggested "Self-Check Quiz Answers" below. WAIT! You didn't skip step 2, did you? It's very important to carefully write out your own answers before checking the suggested answers.
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REVISE your quiz answers if you need to. If you answered all the questions correctly, you can skip this step. Revise means to change, fix, and add extra notes if you need to. This quiz is NOT FOR MARKS, so it is perfectly OK to correct
any mistakes you made. This will make your self-check quiz an excellent study tool you can use later.
- SAVE your quiz to a folder on your computer, or to your Private Files. That way you will know where it is for later studying.
- CHECK with your teacher if you need to. If after completing all these steps you are still not sure about the questions or your answers, you should ask for more feedback from your teacher. To do this, post in the Course Questions Forum, or send your teacher an email. In either case, attach your completed quiz and ask; "Can you look at this quiz and give me some feedback please?" They will be happy to help you!
Self-Check Time!
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Self-Check Quiz Answers
Click each of the suggested answers below, and carefully compare your answers to the suggested answers.
If you have not done the quiz yet – STOP – and go back to step 1 above. Do not look at the answers without first trying the questions.
People are trying to develop more renewable energy sources because non-renewable energy sources eventually will be depleted. Renewable energy sources will be needed to supply energy for heat, electricity, transportation, and manufacturing.
The motion of tidal water occurs reliably every day. The energy from tidal water motion is constantly being reproduced, and it will not stop or be used up.
Nuclear energy had several advantages.
- A small amount of fuel produces a large amount of energy.
- Nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
The main disadvantage to nuclear energy is the risk of extreme human health problems if the radioactive material leaks.
Wind turns turbines that are connected to electric generators that use the spinning motion to produce electricity.