Geothermal Energy Essays - Geothermal Energy, Alternative Energy

Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy represents the inner heat of the earth, produced largely by the decay of radioactive elements in the mantle and center. The three ways that the heat is found is both wet and dry steam (wet steam has drops of water in it), hot water and dry volcanic rocks. We know that the temperature of the earth at depths of 25 to 50 km range from 200`C to 1000`C. There are areas of the earth where local concentrations of heat occur, just as mineral concentrations do. Most of these are located along oceanic ridges and continental rifts, such as the ?Ring of Fire'. Geothermal energy is not free from environmental problems. The steam contains large amounts of hydrogen sulphide with its smell of rotten eggs, and both steam and hot water contain substantial amounts of dissolved minerals, many of which are poisonous to the aquatic life in the streams and rivers into which they are eventually discharged. Also, the removal of steam or water causes the earth to subside in that region. Geothermal energy was first used in the era of the ancient Roman bath house, in which they bathed in hot salt springs. Even though the Romans found an easy way to use geothermal energy, and we still enjoy natural hot springs, the process of removing geothermal energy from the earth to use it efficiently is rather difficult. The only three ways to use geothermal energy is for hot water, space heating and generating electricity. In order to turn geothermal energy into electricity it must be brought up from the earth within a metal cased borehole that was driven deep into the naturally hot ground and put through a geothermal power station, (see diagram). The high pressure steam for these wells is used to drive turbines to generate 300 million kilowatts of electricity each year. Which if you compare all the power that the world produces from all the geothermal power plants, in 1985, to that of one average nuclear power plant the geothermal power will not yet compare. Due to the acid gases in the steam delicate machinery was getting damaged. The hot water is corrosive and eating away at the pipes and expensive equipment making it even harder to removing it from the earth. The problem was solved by using the acid steam to heat acid-free water. This provided clean steam that would not damage the machinery. As a bonus, useful by-products were extracted from the acid steam, including boric acid, ammonia and carbon dioxide. The possibility of tapping the heat energy stored in subsurface rocks is also being considered. The plan is to pump water into such regions by means of deep wells, and then pump the heated water back to the surface. One of the major problems is the poor thermal conductivity of rocks, and it is thus very desirable to have hot rocks that lie at relatively shallow depths. Bibliography Booth, Basil. Volcanoes and Earthquakes. East Sussex, Wayland Ltd., 1988 Boyle, Desmond. Energy. Morristown, Macdonald Education Ltd., 1980. Doty, Roy. Where are you going with that Energy?. Garden City, Doubleday & Company Inc., 1922. McClory, Paul. Focus on Alternative Energy. East Sussex, Wayland Ltd., 1985. Siddiqi, Toufiq. World Energy. Artarmon, Holt-Saunders Pty. Ltd., 1976. Smith, Norman. Energy isn't easy. Toronto, General Publishing Co. Ltd., 1984. Thomas, John. The Quest for Fuel. East Sussex, Wayland Ltd., 1978.

Comparison of 2 davids essays

Comparison of 2 davids essays The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image. Michelangelo describes in the above quote what it is like to carve a likeness of a person out of a large block of marble. As we know from seeing his work, he did an excellent job with this task. Bernini did just as fine a job on his, but in a much different way as you will see in the following pages. Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy, a tiny village, owned by the nearby city-state of Florence. His father was the mayor. He attended school in Florence, but he was preoccupied by art. When he was 13, his father agreed to apprentice him to some well-known painters in Florence. Michelangelo was unsatisfied with these artists, because they would not teach him their artistic secrets. He went to work under another sculptor hired by Lorenzo de Medici. When Michelangelo was 21, he went to Rome, where he was commissioned to carve a group of marble statues showing the Virgin Mary supporting the dead Christ on her knees. His sculpture was called Madonna Della Pieta, and it made Michelangelo famous. A few years later, in 1501, he accepted a commission for a statue of David. He took on the challenge of carving this beautiful work out of a huge oblong chunk of pure white unflawed Carrara marble some 18 feet high and weighing several tons - that had been badly block out and then abandoned by an earlier sculptor (Coughlan 85). This piece had always fascinated Michelangelo, but neither he, nor anyone else, could think of what to carve from it, until now (Coughlan 85). Thus began a new era in art, the High Renaissance. He began carving this statue for the city of Florence. It would become a symbol of this city, a city willing to take on all comers in defense of its liberty (Coughlan 91). The st...

Position paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Position paper - Essay Example (,McGovern, 16). The company mine was sprinkled only when the dust became thick enough to prevent the passage of the mules because, they believed and insisted Starkville was nongaseous. They insisted that their mine was not like Starkville mine. As much as the strike was crucial for the workers and other stakeholders to voice complains. Colorado Fuel and Mining Company on its side believed they were no genuine ground for complain as they had taken care of their employees the right way. In conclusion, the company did not support the strike and definitely did not agree with stakeholders like united Mine workers of America, Industrial workers of the world among others on workers demand. The United State was concerned with internal affairs of the country as it was strongly interested in investing in that country. This investments mainly included; the Mexican oil. Further, these investments had grown up to a billion dollars by 1913(McGovern, 48). Due to this situation, President Wilson took a position of warning Mexican president on acting fast before April 19, whereby if actions were not taken by then. He was to take the situation to Congress for further action. Consequently, since the actions taken by Mexican president did not work, Wilson on April 20 sent a message to Congress to inquire for right to use armed force. The president of United State took the position that; United States seeks to maintain its dignity and authority. Since they were only interested as United State wished to keep great States and wherever else it may be employed for mankind benefit. The president of the United States Wilson took the position of ensuring peace and ensuing law and orders is maintained so as to protect the innocent and also, to ensure the market does not close down as it would greatly affect the economy of the United States (McGovern, 48). In conclusion, Unite States’ business interest required stability in