Skip to main content

What are the similarities between solar and coal energy?

Solar energy originates with the Sun. It can be captured by plants and other producers for the process of photosynthesis. As a result of this process, solar energy is converted to chemical energy in the form of glucose molecules. Glucose can be in turn eaten by herbivores and these organisms can be eaten by other organisms in a food chain. When an organism dies, bacteria and fungi known as decomposers, consume dead organisms and obtain...

Solar energy originates with the Sun. It can be captured by plants and other producers for the process of photosynthesis. As a result of this process, solar energy is converted to chemical energy in the form of glucose molecules. Glucose can be in turn eaten by herbivores and these organisms can be eaten by other organisms in a food chain. When an organism dies, bacteria and fungi known as decomposers, consume dead organisms and obtain energy.  All of this energy is indirectly from the Sun. 


Coal is formed from the remains of ancient trees that lived in the Carboniferous era. It was hot and they lived in a swampy environment. Through burial and compression over time, the remains of these ancient trees became coal. Coal contains stored chemical energy and this energy originally came from solar energy that kept these ancient trees alive.


What is really occurring here is the process of energy transformation. Energy cannot be created or destroyed but it can be transformed from one form to another. Solar energy is transformed to chemical energy in plants and this energy can be eaten as seen in a food chain, or it can be used to heat a home as seen in power plants which use coal's stored chemical energy to generate electricity. This shows the relationship between solar and coal energy.


I have included a link which has a virtual lab showing energy transformations and another that has a diagram illustrating the same concept.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more