Name: Abby Telenko

Study Guide for Unit 5 PowerPoint

1. Three examples of fossil fuels could be
A. Coal
B. Natural Gas
C, Oil
2. The fossil fuel that is most abundant and least expensive is
Coal
3. The plant material that dies in swampy areas and does not decay eventually forms a dense
material called what?
Peat
4. What conditions are necessary in swamps or bogs to prevent or slow decay?
Low oxygen conditions
5. The 4 steps in coal formation are:
A. the organic matter accumulates and forms a bed of peat
b. The peat bed gets buried by other sediments and under heat and pressure begins
to transform to a low grade coal known as lignite
c. More heat and pressure further change the lignite into bituminous coal
d. Even more heat and pressure change the bituminous coal into a nice hard shiny
anthracite coal
6. The increase of what 2 conditions changes these from one form to another over time?
a. Heat
b. Pressure
7. What is the highest grade of coal that produces the least pollution and most energy per
unit?
Anthracite Coal
8. What area of North Carolina could become a coal bed thousands of years from now?
The Great Dismal Swap of North Carolina
9. What are the 2 main methods of coal mining? Name a negative environmental impact of
each.
A. method: Underground
impact: underground mining causes acid
mine drainage, which causes heavy metals to dissolve and seep into ground and
surface water

B. method: Surface
impact: surface mining requires the
removal of massive top soil, leading to erosion, loss of habitat and pollution

10. What are the 2 types of surface mining for coal?

~Strip mining
~Mountaintop removal (a new type of mining)
11. What are 2 negative impacts of burning coal?
~Ground level ozone
~Acid rain
12. What is the main ingredient of Natural Gas?
A mixture of different gases. Its main ingredient is methane
13. What are three of its characteristics?
Odorless, colorless, and tasteless
14. What are 2 benefits of using Natural Gas?
~Cleaner fuel than petroleum or coal
~Has the highest energy content of the hydrocarbons used for fuel
15. If we keep using Natural Gas at the current rate, about how long will it be before we run
out of Natural Gas?
50 years
16. What is the term for fuel sources that come from plant and animal waste?
Biomass
17. What is the name of the organic material in Oil Shale?
Kerogen
18. What are the other names for Tar Sands?
Oil sands or bituminous sands
19. What are 2 of the environmental impacts of using shale or tar sands?
~Takes lots of energy to remove and process
20. Name one alternative energy and list some of its benefits.

Nuclear energy
~It produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of nuclear fuel (uranium
and plutonium)
~Earth contains enough nuclear fuel to meet all present and future needs