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Time to put your thinking cap on!. Please read the entire board. Please get out objectives #16-19 for a stamp. Coal Formation –. Mountain top removal map. 500+ mountains leveled in West Virginia 1.2 million acres of hardwood forest destroyed
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Time to put your thinking cap on! • Please read the entire board. • Please get out objectives #16-19 for a stamp
Mountain top removal map • 500+ mountains leveled in West Virginia • 1.2 million acres of hardwood forest destroyed • Overburden (rocks, soil) is dumped into river valleys, causing more habitat loss.
Risks – black lung disease, mine collapse, explosions from leaking methane
Kimberly Big Hole, South Africa • a diamond mine over 1,097 meters deep. The mine was closed in 1914 but was later reopened as a tourist attraction.
Mirny Diamon Mine Serbia • The mine itself is over 525 meters deep and more than 125 kilometers in diameter. The hole is so wide and so deep it is believed to cause a suction effect, which has caused several aircraft accidents in the area. The Mirny Diamond Mine is now considered a no fly zone!
Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah • this is supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. extraction began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size constantly. in its current state the hole is 3/4 mile deep and 2.5 miles wide.
How is electricity made? • Coal/natural gas – fuel which is burned • Furnace – place fuel is burned to turn water to steam • Turbine – steam makes this spin which is connected to generator • Generator – makes electricity sent to your home
Electricity is taking one form of energy and making it into a different form that we can use!
Forms of energy Kinetic Potential • Position • Chemical Bonds • Heat • Motion • Light • Electricity
Power plants are point sources of pollution • Major air pollutants: • CO2, SOx, NOx, particulates, Mercury
Natural gas vs. coal • 2007 – coal provided 50% of US electricity. • 2011 – coal provided 34% of US electricity. • WHY?
Check for understanding! • 1. What are the environmental effects of coal mining? • 2. Explain how a power plant makes electricity. • 3. What type of fuel does our power plant use? • 4. Where is our power plant? • 5. How is coal formation different from the formation of oil and natural gas? • 6. Why is our power plant a “point source” of pollution? • 7. Name three kinds of air pollution created by our power plant.