1.
Shale oil
–
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil, the resulting oil can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil, the term shale oil is also used for crude oil produced from shales of other very low permeability formations. However, to reduce the risk of confusion of shale oil produced from oil shale with crude oil in oil-bearing shales, Oil shale was one of the first sources of mineral oil used by humans. Its earliest recorded use was in Switzerland and Austria in the early 14th century, in 1596, the personal physician of Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg wrote of its healing properties. Shale oil was used to light the streets of Modena, Italy at the turn of the 17th century. The British Crown granted a patent in 1694 to three persons who had found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr and oyle out of a sort of stone. Later sold as Bettons British Oil, the product was said to have been tried by diverse persons in Aches. Modern shale oil extraction industries were established in France during the 1830s, the oil was used as fuel, as a lubricant and lamp oil, the Industrial Revolution had created additional demand for lighting. It served as a substitute for the scarce and expensive whale oil. During the late 19th century, shale-oil extraction plants were built in Australia, Brazil, China, Estonia, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland produced shale oil in the early 20th century. In response to rising costs at the turn of the 21st century, extraction operations have commenced, been explored, or been renewed in the United States, China, Australia. Shale oil is extracted by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution of oil shale, the pyrolysis of the rock is performed in a retort, situated either above ground or within the rock formation itself. Decomposition takes place most quickly at a temperature between 480 and 520 °C, hydrogenation and thermal dissolution extract the oil using hydrogen donors, solvents, or a combination of these. Thermal dissolution involves the application of solvents at elevated temperatures and pressures, different methods produce shale oil with different properties. An EROEI of 2 would mean that to produce 2 barrels of oil the equivalent in energy of 1 barrel of oil has to be burnt/consumed. A1984 study estimated the EROEI of the various known oil-shale deposits as varying between 0. 7–13.3, royal Dutch Shell reported an EROEI of three to four in 2006 on its in situ development in the Mahogany Research Project. The amount of oil that can be recovered during retorting varies with the oil shale, about half of the oil shales in the Green River Formation yield less than 10 US gal/ton
Shale oil
–
Three West Lothian shale mounds, evidence of the early paraffin oil industry in the 19th century Scotland
2.
Tight oil
–
For another use of the term shale oil, meaning synthetic crude oil derived from oil shale, see shale oil. Tight oil is petroleum that consists of crude oil contained in petroleum-bearing formations of low permeability. Economic production from tight oil formations requires the same hydraulic fracturing, while sometimes called shale oil, tight oil should not be confused with oil shale, which is shale rich in kerogen, or shale oil, which is oil produced from oil shales. Amounts include only high quality prospects which are likely to be developed, in 2012, at least 4,000 new producing shale oil wells were brought online in the United States. By comparison, the number of new producing oil and gas wells completed in 2012 globally outside the United States, tight oil shale formations are heterogeneous and vary widely over relatively short distances. Thus, even in a horizontal drill hole, the amount recovered may vary. This makes evaluation of plays and decisions regarding the profitability of wells on a particular lease difficult, formations which formed under marine conditions contain less clay and are more brittle, and thus more suitable for fracking than formations formed in fresh water which may contain more clay. Formations with more quartz and carbonate are more brittle, the natural gas and other volatiles in LTO make it more hazardous to handle, store, and transport. This was a factor in the series of fatal explosions after the Lac-Mégantic derailment. Analysts expect that $150 billion will be spent on further developing North American tight oil fields in 2015, the large increase in tight oil production is one of the reasons behind the price drop in late 2014. Drilling intensity may be another constraint, as tight-oil development requires far more completed wells than does conventional oil, leonardo Maugeri considers this will be an insurmountable environmental hurdle in Europe. Following are estimates of technically recoverable volumes of tight oil associated with shale formations, not all oil which is technically recoverable may be economically recoverable at current or anticipated prices.5 to 223 billion barrels
Tight oil
–
Shown are conceptual illustrations of types of oil and gas wells. A vertical well is producing from a conventional oil and gas deposit (right). Also shown are wells producing from unconventional formations: a vertical coalbed methane well (second from right); a horizontal well producing from a shale formation (center); and a well producing from a tight sand formation (left)
3.
Sedimentary rock
–
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earths surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle in place. The particles that form a rock by accumulating are called sediment. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension. The sedimentary rock cover of the continents of the Earths crust is extensive, sedimentary rocks are only a thin veneer over a crust consisting mainly of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers as strata, forming a structure called bedding, sedimentary rocks are also important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores. The study of the sequence of rock strata is the main source for an understanding of the Earths history, including palaeogeography, paleoclimatology. The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of rocks is called sedimentology. Sedimentology is part of both geology and physical geography and overlaps partly with other disciplines in the Earth sciences, such as pedology, geomorphology, geochemistry, sedimentary rocks have also been found on Mars. Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of rock fragments that were cemented by silicate minerals. Clastic rocks are composed largely of quartz, feldspar, rock fragments, clay minerals, and mica, any type of mineral may be present, clastic sedimentary rocks, are subdivided according to the dominant particle size. Most geologists use the Udden-Wentworth grain size scale and divide unconsolidated sediment into three fractions, gravel, sand, and mud and this tripartite subdivision is mirrored by the broad categories of rudites, arenites, and lutites, respectively, in older literature. The subdivision of these three categories is based on differences in clast shape, conglomerates and breccias), composition. Conglomerates are dominantly composed of rounded gravel, while breccias are composed of dominantly angular gravel, composition of framework grains The relative abundance of sand-sized framework grains determines the first word in a sandstone name. Naming depends on the dominance of the three most abundant components quartz, feldspar, or the lithic fragments that originated from other rocks, all other minerals are considered accessories and not used in the naming of the rock, regardless of abundance. Clean sandstones with open space are called arenites. Muddy sandstones with abundant muddy matrix are called wackes, six sandstone names are possible using the descriptors for grain composition and the amount of matrix. Mudrocks are sedimentary rocks composed of at least 50% silt- and clay-sized particles and these relatively fine-grained particles are commonly transported by turbulent flow in water or air, and deposited as the flow calms and the particles settle out of suspension
Sedimentary rock
–
Middle
Triassic marginal marine sequence of siltstones (reddish layers at the cliff base) and limestones (brown rocks above),
Virgin Formation, southwestern
Utah, USA
Sedimentary rock
–
Sedimentary rocks on Mars, investigated by NASA's
Curiosity Mars rover
Sedimentary rock
–
Steeply dipping sedimentary rock strata along the
Chalous Road in northern
Iran
Sedimentary rock
–
Claystone deposited in
Glacial Lake Missoula,
Montana,
United States. Note the very fine and flat bedding, common for distal
lacustrine deposition.
4.
Quartz
–
Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earths continental crust, behind feldspar. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones, since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings, especially in Eurasia. The word quartz is derived from the German word Quarz and its Middle High German ancestor twarc, the Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as κρύσταλλος derived from the Ancient Greek κρύος meaning icy cold, because some philosophers apparently believed the mineral to be a form of supercooled ice. Today, the rock crystal is sometimes used as an alternative name for the purest form of quartz. Quartz belongs to the crystal system. The ideal crystal shape is a six-sided prism terminating with six-sided pyramids at each end, well-formed crystals typically form in a bed that has unconstrained growth into a void, usually the crystals are attached at the other end to a matrix and only one termination pyramid is present. However, doubly terminated crystals do occur where they develop freely without attachment, a quartz geode is such a situation where the void is approximately spherical in shape, lined with a bed of crystals pointing inward. α-quartz crystallizes in the crystal system, space group P3121 and P3221 respectively. β-quartz belongs to the system, space group P6222 and P6422. These space groups are truly chiral, both α-quartz and β-quartz are examples of chiral crystal structures composed of achiral building blocks. The transformation between α- and β-quartz only involves a comparatively minor rotation of the tetrahedra with respect to one another, although many of the varietal names historically arose from the color of the mineral, current scientific naming schemes refer primarily to the microstructure of the mineral. Color is an identifier for the cryptocrystalline minerals, although it is a primary identifier for the macrocrystalline varieties. Pure quartz, traditionally called rock crystal or clear quartz, is colorless and transparent or translucent, common colored varieties include citrine, rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, and others. The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of macrocrystalline and the microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline varieties, the cryptocrystalline varieties are either translucent or mostly opaque, while the transparent varieties tend to be macrocrystalline. Chalcedony is a form of silica consisting of fine intergrowths of both quartz, and its monoclinic polymorph moganite. Other opaque gemstone varieties of quartz, or mixed rocks including quartz, often including contrasting bands or patterns of color, are agate, carnelian or sard, onyx, heliotrope, amethyst is a form of quartz that ranges from a bright to dark or dull purple color. The worlds largest deposits of amethysts can be found in Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Russia, France, Namibia, sometimes amethyst and citrine are found growing in the same crystal. It is then referred to as ametrine, an amethyst is formed when there is iron in the area where it was formed
Quartz
–
Quartz
crystal cluster from
Tibet
Quartz
–
Clear rock crystals on a white base
Quartz
–
Amethyst crystals on matrix
Quartz
–
Citrine from Brazil
5.
Feldspar
–
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals that make up about 40% of the Earths continental crust. Feldspars crystallize from magma as veins in both intrusive and extrusive rocks and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock. Rock formed almost entirely of plagioclase feldspar is known as anorthosite. Feldspars are also found in types of sedimentary rocks. The name feldspar derives from the German Feldspat, a compound of the words Feld, field, and Spat, the change from Spat to -spar was influenced by the English word spar, a synonym for mineral. Feldspathic refers to materials that contain feldspar, the alternate spelling, felspar, has largely fallen out of use. This group of minerals consists of tectosilicates, solid solutions between albite and anorthite are called plagioclase, or more properly plagioclase feldspar. Only limited solid solution occurs between K-feldspar and anorthite, and in the two solid solutions, immiscibility occurs at temperatures common in the crust of the earth. Albite is considered both a plagioclase and alkali feldspar, the alkali feldspars are as follows, orthoclase —KAlSi3O8 sanidine —AlSi3O8 microcline —KAlSi3O8 anorthoclase —AlSi3O8 Sanidine is stable at the highest temperatures, and microcline at the lowest. Perthite is a texture in alkali feldspar, due to exsolution of contrasting alkali feldspar compositions during cooling of an intermediate composition. The perthitic textures in the alkali feldspars of many granites can be seen with the naked eye, microperthitic textures in crystals are visible using a light microscope, whereas cryptoperthitic textures can be seen only with an electron microscope. Barium feldspars are also considered alkali feldspars, barium feldspars form as the result of the substitution of barium for potassium in the mineral structure. The barium feldspars are monoclinic and include the following, celsian—BaAl2Si2O8 hyalophane—4O8 The plagioclase feldspars are triclinic, the immiscibility gaps in the plagioclase solid solutions are complex compared to the gap in the alkali feldspars. The play of colours visible in some feldspar of labradorite composition is due to very fine-grained exsolution lamellae, chemical weathering of feldspars results in the formation of clay minerals. About 20 million tonnes of feldspar were produced in 2010, mostly by three countries, Italy, Turkey, and China, Feldspar is a common raw material used in glassmaking, ceramics, and to some extent as a filler and extender in paint, plastics, and rubber. In glassmaking, alumina from feldspar improves product hardness, durability, in ceramics, the alkalis in feldspar act as a flux, lowering the melting temperature of a mixture. Fluxes melt at a stage in the firing process, forming a glassy matrix that bonds the other components of the system together. In the US, about 66% of feldspar is consumed in glassmaking, including glass containers, ceramics and other uses, such as fillers, accounted for the remainder
Feldspar
–
Feldspar crystal (18×21×8.5 cm) from
Jequitinhonha valley,
Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil.
Feldspar
–
Compositional phase diagram of the different minerals that constitute the feldspar solid solution.
Feldspar
–
Lunar ferrous
anorthosite #60025 (
plagioclase feldspar). Collected by
Apollo 16 from the
Lunar Highlands near
Descartes Crater. This sample is currently on display at the
National Museum of Natural History in
Washington, D.C.
Feldspar
–
Labradorite.
6.
Clay
–
Clay is a fine-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clays are plastic due to water content and become hard, brittle. Depending on the content in which it is found, clay can appear in various colours from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Although many naturally occurring deposits include both silts and clay, clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size, silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. There is, however, some overlap in size and other physical properties. The distinction between silt and clay varies by discipline, geologists and soil scientists usually consider the separation to occur at a particle size of 2 µm, sedimentologists often use 4–5 μm, and colloid chemists use 1 μm. Geotechnical engineers distinguish between silts and clays based on the plasticity properties of the soil, as measured by the soils Atterberg limits, ISO14688 grades clay particles as being smaller than 2 μm and silt particles as being larger. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. In addition to the process, some clay minerals are formed through hydrothermal activity. There are two types of deposits, primary and secondary. Primary clays form as residual deposits in soil and remain at the site of formation, secondary clays are clays that have been transported from their original location by water erosion and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit. Clay deposits are associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes. Depending on the source, there are three or four main groups of clays, kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, illite, and chlorite. Chlorites are not always considered to be a clay, sometimes being classified as a group within the phyllosilicates. There are approximately 30 different types of clays in these categories. Varve is clay with visible annual layers, which are formed by deposition of those layers and are marked by differences in erosion. This type of deposit is common in glacial lakes
Clay
–
Gay Head cliffs in
Martha's Vineyard consist almost entirely of clay.
Clay
–
Electron microscope photograph of smectite clay – magnification 23,500
Clay
–
Quaternary clay in
Estonia
Clay
–
Deforestation for clay extraction in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The picture is of Morro da Covanca, Jacarepaguá.
7.
Carbonate
–
In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula of CO2−3. The name may mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2. In geology and mineralogy, the term carbonate can refer both to carbonate minerals and carbonate rock, and both are dominated by the ion, CO2−3. Carbonate minerals are extremely varied and ubiquitous in chemically precipitated sedimentary rock, sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate have been used since antiquity for cleaning and preservation, as well as for the manufacture of glass. Carbonates are widely used in industry, e. g. in iron smelting, as a raw material for Portland cement and lime manufacture, in the composition of ceramic glazes, the carbonate ion is the simplest oxocarbon anion. It consists of one carbon atom surrounded by three oxygen atoms, in a planar arrangement, with D3h molecular symmetry. It has a mass of 60.01 g/mol and carries a total formal charge of −2. It is the base of the hydrogen carbonate ion, HCO−3. The Lewis structure of the ion has two single bonds to negative oxygen atoms, and one short double bond to a neutral oxygen. This structure is incompatible with the symmetry of the ion. This process is called calcination, after calx, the Latin name of quicklime or calcium oxide, CaO, exceptions include lithium, sodium, potassium and ammonium carbonates, as well as many uranium carbonates. In aqueous solution, carbonate, bicarbonate, carbon dioxide, in strongly basic conditions, the carbonate ion predominates, while in weakly basic conditions, the bicarbonate ion is prevalent. In more acid conditions, aqueous carbon dioxide, CO2, is the main form, thus sodium carbonate is basic, sodium bicarbonate is weakly basic, while carbon dioxide itself is a weak acid. Carbonated water is formed by dissolving CO2 in water under pressure, in living systems an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, speeds the interconversion of CO2 and carbonic acid. Although the carbonate salts of most metals are insoluble in water, in solution this equilibrium between carbonate, bicarbonate, carbon dioxide and carbonic acid changes consonant to changing temperature and pressure conditions. In the case of ions with insoluble carbonates, e. g. CaCO3. This is an explanation for the buildup of scale inside pipes caused by hard water, in organic chemistry a carbonate can also refer to a functional group within a larger molecule that contains a carbon atom bound to three oxygen atoms, one of which is double bonded. These compounds are known as organocarbonates or carbonate esters, and have the general formula ROCOOR′
Carbonate
–
Carbonate
8.
Pyrite
–
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fools gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. This minerals metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a resemblance to gold. The color has led to the nicknames brass, brazzle. Pyrite is the most common of the sulfide minerals, the name pyrite is derived from the Greek πυρίτης, of fire or in fire, in turn from πύρ, fire. 1550, the term had become a term for all of the sulfide minerals. Pyrite is usually associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock. Despite being nicknamed fools gold, pyrite is sometimes found in association with small quantities of gold, Gold and arsenic occur as a coupled substitution in the pyrite structure. In the Carlin–type gold deposits, arsenian pyrite contains up to 0.37 wt% gold, Pyrite has been used since classical times to manufacture copperas, that is, iron sulfate. Iron pyrite was heaped up and allowed to weather, the acidic runoff from the heap was then boiled with iron to produce iron sulfate. In the 15th century, such leaching began to replace the burning of sulfur as a source of sulfuric acid, by the 19th century, it had become the dominant method. Pyrite remains in use for the production of sulfur dioxide, for use in such applications as the paper industry. Thermal decomposition of pyrite into FeS and elemental sulfur starts at 540 °C, a newer commercial use for pyrite is as the cathode material in Energizer brand non-rechargeable lithium batteries. Pyrite is a material with a band gap of 0.95 eV. During the early years of the 20th century, pyrite was used as a detector in radio receivers. Pyrite detectors occupied a midway point between galena detectors and the more mechanically complicated perikon mineral pairs, Pyrite detectors can be as sensitive as a modern 1N34A germanium diode detector. Pyrite has been proposed as an abundant, inexpensive material in low-cost photovoltaic solar panels, synthetic iron sulfide was used with copper sulfide to create the photovoltaic material. Pyrite is used to make marcasite jewelry, marcasite jewelry, made from small faceted pieces of pyrite, often set in silver, was known since ancient times and was popular in the Victorian era. Marcasite jewelry does not actually contain the mineral marcasite, from the perspective of classical inorganic chemistry, which assigns formal oxidation states to each atom, pyrite is probably best described as Fe2+S22−
Pyrite
–
Pyrite cubic crystals on
marl from
Navajún,
La Rioja, Spain (size: 95 by 78 millimetres (3.7 by 3.1 in), 512 grams (18.1 oz); main crystal: 31 millimetres (1.2 in) on edge)
Pyrite
–
Pyrite from Ampliación a Victoria Mine,
Navajún,
La Rioja, Spain.
Pyrite
–
Dodecahedron - shaped crystals from Italy.
Pyrite
–
A pyrite cube (center) has dissolved away from a host rock, leaving behind trace gold.
9.
Uranium
–
Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons, Uranium is weakly radioactive because all its isotopes are unstable. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 and uranium-235, Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and it occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite. In nature, uranium is found as uranium-238, uranium-235, Uranium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years, many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is the naturally occurring fissile isotope, which makes it widely used in nuclear power plants. However, because of the amounts found in nature, uranium needs to undergo enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is present. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is fertile, meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor, another fissile isotope, uranium-233, can be produced from natural thorium and is also important in nuclear technology. In sufficient concentration, these maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction. This generates the heat in nuclear reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons. Depleted uranium is used in kinetic energy penetrators and armor plating, Uranium is used as a colorant in uranium glass, producing lemon yellow to green colors. Uranium glass fluoresces green in ultraviolet light and it was also used for tinting and shading in early photography. The 1789 discovery of uranium in the mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth, eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel. An ensuing arms race during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union produced tens of thousands of weapons that used uranium metal. The security of those weapons and their fissile material following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 is a concern for public health. When refined, uranium is a white, weakly radioactive metal
Uranium
–
Uranium, 92 U
Uranium
–
Depleted uranium is used by various militaries as high-density penetrators
Uranium
–
The most visible civilian use of uranium is as the thermal power source used in
nuclear power plants
Uranium
–
Uranium glass glowing under
UV light
10.
Iron
–
Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series and it is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earths outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earths crust, like the other group 8 elements, ruthenium and osmium, iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +6, although +2 and +3 are the most common. Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen, fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the metals that form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than the metal and thus flake off, Iron metal has been used since ancient times, although copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures, were used even earlier in human history. Pure iron is soft, but is unobtainable by smelting because it is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon. A certain proportion of carbon steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces, where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, further refinement with oxygen reduces the carbon content to the correct proportion to make steel. Steels and iron alloys formed with metals are by far the most common industrial metals because they have a great range of desirable properties. Iron chemical compounds have many uses, Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores. Iron forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens, among its organometallic compounds is ferrocene, the first sandwich compound discovered. Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Iron is also the metal at the site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants. A human male of average height has about 4 grams of iron in his body and this iron is distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin, and transport in plasma. The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys can be evaluated using a variety of tests, including the Brinell test, Rockwell test, the data on iron is so consistent that it is often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests. An increase in the content will cause a significant increase in the hardness. Maximum hardness of 65 Rc is achieved with a 0. 6% carbon content, because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium. Because of its significance for planetary cores, the properties of iron at high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively
Iron
–
Iron, 26 Fe
Iron
–
Spectral lines of iron
Iron
–
Iron meteorites, similar in composition to the Earth's inner- and outer core
Iron
–
Hydrated
iron(III) chloride, also known as ferric chloride
11.
Vanadium
–
Vanadium is a chemical element with symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery grey, ductile, and malleable transition metal, the elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the free metal somewhat against further oxidation. Four years later, however, he was convinced by other scientists that erythronium was identical to chromium, both names were attributed to the wide range of colors found in vanadium compounds. Del Rios lead mineral was later renamed vanadinite for its vanadium content, in 1867 Henry Enfield Roscoe obtained the pure element. Vanadium occurs naturally in about 65 different minerals and in fossil fuel deposits and it is produced in China and Russia from steel smelter slag, other countries produce it either from the flue dust of heavy oil, or as a byproduct of uranium mining. It is mainly used to produce specialty steel alloys such as high-speed tool steels, the most important industrial vanadium compound, vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid. Large amounts of ions are found in a few organisms. The oxide and some salts of vanadium have moderate toxicity. Particularly in the ocean, vanadium is used by life forms as an active center of enzymes. Vanadium was discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río, a Spanish-Mexican mineralogist, Del Río extracted the element from a sample of Mexican brown lead ore, later named vanadinite. He found that its salts exhibit a variety of colors. Later, Del Río renamed the element erythronium because most of the salts turned red upon heating, Del Río accepted Collet-Descotils statement and retracted his claim. In 1831, the Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström rediscovered the element in a new oxide he found working with iron ores. Later that same year, Friedrich Wöhler confirmed del Ríos earlier work, Sefström chose a name beginning with V, which had not been assigned to any element yet. He called the element vanadium after Old Norse Vanadís, because of the many beautifully colored chemical compounds it produces, in 1831, the geologist George William Featherstonhaugh suggested that vanadium should be renamed rionium after del Río, but this suggestion was not followed. The isolation of vanadium metal proved difficult, in 1831, Berzelius reported the production of the metal, but Henry Enfield Roscoe showed that Berzelius had in fact produced the nitride, vanadium nitride. Roscoe eventually produced the metal in 1867 by reduction of chloride, VCl2. In 1927, pure vanadium was produced by reducing vanadium pentoxide with calcium, the first large-scale industrial use of vanadium was in the steel alloy chassis of the Ford Model T, inspired by French race cars
Vanadium
–
Vanadium, 23 V
Vanadium
–
The
Model T made use of vanadium steel in its
chassis.
Vanadium
–
High-purity (99.95%) vanadium cuboids,
ebeam remelted and macro-etched
Vanadium
–
From left: [V(H 2 O) 6] 2+ (lilac), [V(H 2 O) 6] 3+ (green), [VO(H 2 O) 5] 2+ (blue) and [VO(H 2 O) 5] 3+ (yellow).
12.
Nickel
–
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the metals and is hard and ductile. Meteoric nickel is found in combination with iron, a reflection of the origin of elements as major end products of supernova nucleosynthesis. An iron–nickel mixture is thought to compose Earths inner core, use of nickel has been traced as far back as 3500 BCE. Nickel was first isolated and classified as an element in 1751 by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt. The elements name comes from a mischievous sprite of German miner mythology, Nickel, an economically important source of nickel is the iron ore limonite, which often contains 1–2% nickel. Nickels other important ore minerals include garnierite, and pentlandite, major production sites include the Sudbury region in Canada, New Caledonia in the Pacific, and Norilsk in Russia. Nickel is slowly oxidized by air at room temperature and is considered corrosion-resistant, historically, it has been used for plating iron and brass, coating chemistry equipment, and manufacturing certain alloys that retain a high silvery polish, such as German silver. About 6% of world production is still used for corrosion-resistant pure-nickel plating. Nickel-plated objects sometimes provoke nickel allergy, Nickel has been widely used in coins, though its rising price has led to some replacement with cheaper metals in recent years. Nickel is one of four elements that are ferromagnetic around room temperature, alnico permanent magnets based partly on nickel are of intermediate strength between iron-based permanent magnets and rare-earth magnets. The metal is valuable in modern times chiefly in alloys, about 60% of world production is used in nickel-steels, other common alloys and some new superalloys comprise most of the remainder of world nickel use, with chemical uses for nickel compounds consuming less than 3% of production. As a compound, nickel has a number of chemical manufacturing uses. Nickel is a nutrient for some microorganisms and plants that have enzymes with nickel as an active site. Nickel is a metal with a slight golden tinge that takes a high polish. It is one of four elements that are magnetic at or near room temperature. Its Curie temperature is 355 °C, meaning that bulk nickel is non-magnetic above this temperature, the unit cell of nickel is a face-centered cube with the lattice parameter of 0.352 nm, giving an atomic radius of 0.124 nm
Nickel
–
Nickel, 28 Ni
Nickel
–
Ni nanocrystal inside a
carbon nanotube; scale bar 5 nm.
Nickel
–
Widmanstätten pattern showing the two forms of nickel-iron, Kamacite and Taenite, in an octahedrite meteorite
Nickel
–
Color of various Ni(II) complexes in aqueous solution. From left to right, [Ni(NH 3) 6] 2+, [Ni(
C2H4(NH2)2)] 2+, [NiCl 4] 2−, [Ni(H 2 O) 6] 2+
13.
Molybdenum
–
Molybdenum is a chemical element with symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek Μόλυβδος molybdos, meaning lead, molybdenum minerals have been known throughout history, but the element was discovered in 1778 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. The metal was first isolated in 1781 by Peter Jacob Hjelm, molybdenum does not occur naturally as a free metal on Earth, it is found only in various oxidation states in minerals. The free element, a metal with a gray cast, has the sixth-highest melting point of any element. It readily forms hard, stable carbides in alloys, and for this reason most of production of the element is used in steel alloys. Most molybdenum compounds have low solubility in water, but when molybdenum-bearing minerals contact oxygen and water, industrially, molybdenum compounds are used in high-pressure and high-temperature applications as pigments and catalysts. Molybdenum-bearing enzymes are by far the most common catalysts for breaking the chemical bond in atmospheric molecular nitrogen in the process of biological nitrogen fixation. At least 50 molybdenum enzymes are now known in bacteria and animals and these nitrogenases contain molybdenum in a form different from other molybdenum enzymes, which all contain fully oxidized molybdenum in a molybdenum cofactor. These various molybdenum cofactor enzymes are vital to the organisms, and molybdenum is an element for life in all higher eukaryote organisms. In its pure form, molybdenum is a metal with a Mohs hardness of 5.5. It has a point of 2,623 °C, of the naturally occurring elements, only tantalum, osmium, rhenium, tungsten. Weak oxidation of molybdenum starts at 300 °C and it has one of the lowest coefficients of thermal expansion among commercially used metals. The tensile strength of molybdenum wires increases about 3 times, from about 10 to 30 GPa, there are 35 known isotopes of molybdenum, ranging in atomic mass from 83 to 117, as well as four metastable nuclear isomers. Seven isotopes occur naturally, with masses of 92,94,95,96,97,98. Of these naturally occurring isotopes, only molybdenum-100 is unstable, molybdenum-98 is the most abundant isotope, comprising 24. 14% of all molybdenum. Molybdenum-100 has a half-life of about 1019 y and undergoes double beta decay into ruthenium-100, molybdenum isotopes with mass numbers from 111 to 117 all have half-lives of approximately 150 ns. All unstable isotopes of molybdenum decay into isotopes of niobium, technetium, as also noted below, the most common isotopic molybdenum application involves molybdenum-99, which is a fission product. It is a parent radioisotope to the short-lived gamma-emitting daughter radioisotope technetium-99m, in 2008, the Delft University of Technology applied for a patent on the molybdenum-98-based production of molybdenum-99
Molybdenum
–
Molybdenum, 42 Mo
Molybdenum
–
Molybdenite on quartz
14.
Organic chemical compound
–
An organic compound is virtually any chemical compound that contains carbon, although a consensus definition remains elusive and likely arbitrary. Organic compounds are rare terrestrially, but of importance because all known life is based on organic compounds. The most basic petrochemicals are considered the building blocks of organic chemistry, for historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds, such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon, and cyanides are considered inorganic. The distinction between organic and inorganic compounds, while useful in organizing the vast subject of chemistry. Organic chemistry is the science concerned with all aspects of organic compounds, Organic synthesis is the methodology of their preparation. The word organic is historical, dating to the 1st century, for many centuries, Western alchemists believed in vitalism. This is the theory that certain compounds could be synthesized only from their classical elements—earth, water, air, vitalism taught that these organic compounds were fundamentally different from the inorganic compounds that could be obtained from the elements by chemical manipulation. Vitalism survived for a while even after the rise of modern atomic theory and it first came under question in 1824, when Friedrich Wöhler synthesized oxalic acid, a compound known to occur only in living organisms, from cyanogen. A more decisive experiment was Wöhlers 1828 synthesis of urea from the inorganic salts potassium cyanate, urea had long been considered an organic compound, as it was known to occur only in the urine of living organisms. Wöhlers experiments were followed by others, in which increasingly complex organic substances were produced from inorganic ones without the involvement of any living organism. Even though vitalism has been discredited, scientific nomenclature retains the distinction between organic and inorganic compounds, still, even the broadest definition requires excluding alloys that contain carbon, including steel. The C-H definition excludes compounds that are considered organic, neither urea nor oxalic acid is organic by this definition, yet they were two key compounds in the vitalism debate. The IUPAC Blue Book on organic nomenclature specifically mentions urea and oxalic acid, other compounds lacking C-H bonds but traditionally considered organic include benzenehexol, mesoxalic acid, and carbon tetrachloride. Mellitic acid, which contains no C-H bonds, is considered an organic substance in Martian soil. The C-H bond-only rule also leads to somewhat arbitrary divisions in sets of carbon-fluorine compounds, for example, CF4 would be considered by this rule to be inorganic, whereas CF3H would be organic. Organic compounds may be classified in a variety of ways, one major distinction is between natural and synthetic compounds. Another distinction, based on the size of organic compounds, distinguishes between small molecules and polymers, natural compounds refer to those that are produced by plants or animals. Many of these are extracted from natural sources because they would be more expensive to produce artificially
Organic chemical compound
–
Methane is one of the simplest organic compounds
15.
Hydrocarbon
–
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon, and thus are group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons from which one atom has been removed are functional groups. Aromatic hydrocarbons, alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes and alkyne-based compounds are different types of hydrocarbons, the classifications for hydrocarbons, defined by IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry are as follows, Saturated hydrocarbons are the simplest of the hydrocarbon species. They are composed entirely of single bonds and are saturated with hydrogen, the formula for acyclic saturated hydrocarbons is CnH2n+2. The most general form of saturated hydrocarbons is CnH2n+2, where r is the number of rings and those with exactly one ring are the cycloalkanes. Saturated hydrocarbons are the basis of petroleum fuels and are found as linear or branched species. Substitution reaction is their characteristics property, hydrocarbons with the same molecular formula but different structural formulae are called structural isomers. As given in the example of 3-methylhexane and its higher homologues, chiral saturated hydrocarbons constitute the side chains of biomolecules such as chlorophyll and tocopherol. Unsaturated hydrocarbons have one or more double or triple bonds between carbon atoms and those with double bond are called alkenes. Those with one double bond have the formula CnH2n and those containing triple bonds are called alkyne. Those with one triple bond have the formula CnH2n−2, aromatic hydrocarbons, also known as arenes, are hydrocarbons that have at least one aromatic ring. Hydrocarbons can be gases, liquids, waxes or low melting solids or polymers, in terms of shells, carbon consists of an incomplete outer shell, which comprises 4 electrons, and thus has 4 electrons available for covalent or dative bonding. Some hydrocarbons also are abundant in the solar system, lakes of liquid methane and ethane have been found on Titan, Saturns largest moon, confirmed by the Cassini-Huygens Mission. Hydrocarbons are also abundant in nebulae forming polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, hydrocarbons are a primary energy source for current civilizations. The predominant use of hydrocarbons is as a fuel source. In their solid form, hydrocarbons take the form of asphalt, mixtures of volatile hydrocarbons are now used in preference to the chlorofluorocarbons as a propellant for aerosol sprays, due to chlorofluorocarbons impact on the ozone layer. Methane and ethane are gaseous at ambient temperatures and cannot be liquefied by pressure alone. Propane is however easily liquefied, and exists in propane bottles mostly as a liquid, butane is so easily liquefied that it provides a safe, volatile fuel for small pocket lighters
Hydrocarbon
–
Oil refineries are one way hydrocarbons are processed for use.
Crude oil is processed in several stages to form desired hydrocarbons, used as fuel and in other products.
Hydrocarbon
–
Natural oil spring in
Korňa,
Slovakia.
16.
Petroleum
–
Petroleum is a naturally occurring, yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earths surface, which is commonly refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation and it consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock, Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling. Drilling is carried out studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis. Petroleum is used in manufacturing a variety of materials. Concern over the depletion of the earths finite reserves of oil, the burning of fossil fuels plays the major role in the current episode of global warming. The word petroleum comes from Greek, πέτρα for rocks and Greek, the term was found in 10th-century Old English sources. It was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer, Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times, and is now important across society, including in economy, politics and technology. Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society. By 347 AD, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China, early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. The mythological origins of the oil fields at Yenangyaung, and its hereditary monopoly control by 24 families, Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been explored and used. The still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century, both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze, the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. In 1848 Young set up a small business refining the crude oil, Young eventually succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. The production of oils and solid paraffin wax from coal formed the subject of his patent dated 17 October 1850. In 1850 Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E. W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate in West Lothian, the worlds first oil refinery was built in 1856 by Ignacy Łukasiewicz. The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in North America, edwin Drakes 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, is popularly considered the first modern well
Petroleum
–
Pumpjack pumping an oil well near
Lubbock, Texas
Petroleum
–
An oil refinery in Mina-Al-Ahmadi, Kuwait
Petroleum
–
Natural petroleum spring in
Korňa, Slovakia
Petroleum
–
Oil derrick in
Okemah, Oklahoma, 1922
17.
Environmental impact of the oil shale industry
–
Surface mining of oil shale deposits causes the usual environmental impacts of open-pit mining. In addition, the combustion and thermal processing generate waste material, which must be disposed of, and harmful emissions, including carbon dioxide. Experimental in-situ conversion processes and carbon capture and storage technologies may reduce some of these concerns in future, surface mining and in-situ processing requires extensive land use. Mining, processing and waste disposal require land to be withdrawn from traditional uses, oil shale mining reduces the original ecosystem diversity with habitats supporting a variety of plants and animals. After mining the land has to be reclaimed, however, this process takes time and cannot necessarily re-establish the original biodiversity. The impact of mining on the surroundings will be less than for open pit mines. However, sub-surface mining may also cause subsidence of the due to the collapse of mined-out area. Disposal of mining wastes, spent oil shale and combustion ashes needs additional land use, according to this, production of a barrel of shale oil can generate up to 1.5 tonnes of semi-coke, which may occupy up to 25% greater volume than the original shale. This is not confirmed by the results of Estonias oil shale industry, the waste material may consist of several pollutants including sulfates, heavy metals, and polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which are toxic and carcinogenic. To avoid contamination of the groundwater, the waste from the thermal treatment process is disposed in an open dump. As semi-coke consists of, in addition to minerals, up to 10% organics that may pose hazard to the environment owing to leaching of toxic compounds as well as to the possibility of self-ignition, mining influences the water runoff pattern of the area affected. In some cases it requires the lowering of groundwater levels below the level of the oil shale strata, in Estonia, for each cubic meter of oil shale mined,25 cubic meters of water must be pumped from the mine area. At the same time, the processing of oil shale needs water for quenching hot products. Water concerns are particularly sensitive issue in arid regions, such as the part of the United States and Israels Negev Desert. Depending on technology, above-ground retorting uses between one and five barrels of water per barrel of produced shale oil, in situ processing, according to one estimate, uses about one-tenth as much water. Water represents the vector of transfer of oil shale industry pollutants. One environmental issue is to prevent noxious materials leaching from spent shale into the water supply, the oil shale processing is accompanied by the formation of process waters and waste waters containing phenols, tar and several other products, heavily separable and toxic to the environment. It includes particles of different types and different sizes, open deposition of semi-coke causes distribution of pollutants in addition to aqueous vectors also via air
Environmental impact of the oil shale industry
–
Kiviõli Oil Shale Processing & Chemicals Plant in
Ida-Virumaa,
Estonia
18.
Deposition (geology)
–
Deposition is the geological process in which sediments, soil and rocks are added to a landform or land mass. Deposition can also refer to the buildup of sediment from organically derived matter or chemical processes, for example, chalk is made up partly of the microscopic calcium carbonate skeletons of marine plankton, the deposition of which has induced chemical processes to deposit further calcium carbonate. Similarly, the formation of coal begins with deposition of material, mainly from plants. The null-point hypothesis explains how sediment is deposited throughout a shore profile according to its grain size and this is due to the influence of hydraulic energy, resulting in a seaward-fining of sediment particle size, or where fluid forcing equals gravity for each grain size. The concept can also be explained as sediment of a particular size may move across the profile to a position where it is in equilibrium with the wave, figure 1 illustrates this relationship between sediment grain size and the depth of the marine environment. The relatively strong onshore stroke of the forms a eddy or vortex on the lee side of the ripple, provided the onshore flow persists. Where there is symmetry in ripple shape the vortex is neutralised and this creates a cloudy water column which travels under tidal influence as the wave orbital motion is in equilibrium. R is the radius of the object, ρ is the mass density of the fluid, g is the gravitational acceleration, Cd is the drag coefficient. When the fluid becomes more viscous due to grain sizes or larger settling velocities, prediction is less straight forward. Cohesion of sediment occurs with the grain sizes associated with silts and clays. Akaroa Harbour is located on Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New Zealand and this research shows conclusive evidence for the null point theory existing on tidal flats with differing hydrodynamic energy levels and also on flats that are both erosional and accretional. Kirby R. Cheniers can be found at any level on the foreshore and this is because sediment grain size analysis throughout a profile allows inference into the erosion or accretion rates possible if shore dynamics are modified. Planners and managers should also be aware that the environment is dynamic. Cementation Cross-bedding Drift Flocculation Longshore drift Overbank Sedimentary rock Sedimentary structures Settling Shields parameter Stokes law Superficial deposits
Deposition (geology)
–
Map of
Cape Cod showing shores undergoing erosion (cliffed sections) in red, and shores characterized by marine deposition (barriers) in blue
19.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
–
Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
–
Flag
United States
–
The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
–
The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
20.
Pyrolysis
–
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen. It involves the change of chemical composition and physical phase. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro fire and lysis separating, Pyrolysis is a type of thermolysis, and is most commonly observed in organic materials exposed to high temperatures. It is one of the involved in charring wood, starting at 200–300 °C. It also occurs in fires where solid fuels are burning or when vegetation comes into contact with lava in volcanic eruptions, in general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces gas and liquid products and leaves a solid residue richer in carbon content, char. Extreme pyrolysis, which leaves mostly carbon as the residue, is called carbonization and these specialized uses of pyrolysis may be called various names, such as dry distillation, destructive distillation, or cracking. Pyrolysis is also used in the creation of nanoparticles, zirconia, Pyrolysis also plays an important role in several cooking procedures, such as baking, frying, grilling, and caramelizing. It is a tool of analysis, for example, in mass spectrometry. Indeed, many important chemical substances, such as phosphorus and sulfuric acid, were first obtained by this process, Pyrolysis has been assumed to take place during catagenesis, the conversion of buried organic matter to fossil fuels. It is also the basis of pyrography, in their embalming process, the ancient Egyptians used a mixture of substances, including methanol, which they obtained from the pyrolysis of wood. Pyrolysis differs from other processes like combustion and hydrolysis in that it usually does not involve reactions with oxygen, water, in practice, it is not possible to achieve a completely oxygen-free atmosphere. Because some oxygen is present in any system, a small amount of oxidation occurs. The term has also applied to the decomposition of organic material in the presence of superheated water or steam, for example. Pyrolysis is usually the first chemical reaction occurs in the burning of many solid organic fuels, like wood, cloth, and paper. Thus, the pyrolysis of common materials like wood, plastic, in pyrolysis there is a gas phase present. Pyrolysis occurs whenever food is exposed to high temperatures in a dry environment, such as roasting, baking, toasting. It is the process responsible for the formation of the golden-brown crust in foods prepared by those methods. In normal cooking, the food components that undergo pyrolysis are carbohydrates
Pyrolysis
–
Simplified depiction of pyrolysis chemistry.
21.
Vapor
–
A vapor is different from an aerosol. An aerosol is a suspension of particles of liquid, solid. For example, water has a temperature of 647 K. In the atmosphere at ordinary temperatures, therefore, gaseous water will condense into a liquid if its pressure is increased sufficiently. A vapor may co-exist with a liquid, when this is true, the two phases will be in equilibrium, and the gas-partial pressure will be equal to the equilibrium vapor pressure of the liquid. Vapor refers to a gas phase at a temperature where the substance can also exist in the liquid or solid state. If the vapor is in contact with a liquid or solid phase, the term gas refers to a compressible fluid phase. Fixed gases are gases for which no liquid or solid can form at the temperature of the gas, a liquid or solid does not have to boil to release a vapor. Vapor is responsible for the processes of cloud formation and condensation. It is commonly employed to carry out the processes of distillation. The constituent molecules of a vapor possess vibrational, rotational, and these motions are considered in the kinetic theory of gases. The vapor pressure is the pressure from a liquid or a solid at a specific temperature. The equilibrium vapor pressure of a liquid or solid is not affected by the amount of contact with the liquid or solid interface, the normal boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which the vapor pressure is equal to normal atmospheric pressure. For two-phase systems, the pressure of the individual phases are equal. The total vapor pressure is the sum of the component partial pressures, perfumes contain chemicals that vaporize at different temperatures and at different rate in scent accords known as notes. Atmospheric water vapor is found near the surface, and may condense into small liquid droplets and form meteorological phenomena such as fog, mist. Mercury-vapor lamps and sodium vapor lamps produce light from atoms in excited states, flammable liquids do not burn when ignited. It is the cloud above the liquid that will burn if the vapors concentration is between the lower flammable limit and upper flammable limit of the flammable liquid
Vapor
–
Water condenses into visible droplets (
aerosol) after evaporating from a cup of hot tea
Vapor
–
Water vapor is responsible for humidity
22.
Combustibility
–
Combustibility is a measure of how easily a substance will set on fire, through fire or combustion. This is an important property to consider when a substance is used for construction or is being stored and it is also important in processes that produce combustible substances as a by-product. Special precautions are required for substances that are easily combustible. These measures may include installation of fire sprinklers or storage remote from possible sources of ignition, substances with low combustibility may be selected for construction where the fire risk needs to be reduced, such as apartment buildings, houses, or offices. If combustible resources are used there is chance of fire accidents. Fire resistant substances are preferred for building materials and furnishings, for an Authority Having Jurisdiction, combustibility is defined by the local code. BS 476-4,1970 defines a test for combusibility in which 3 specimens of a material are heated in a furnace, otherwise, the material shall be deemed combustible. Various countries have tests for determining noncombustibility of materials, most involve the heating of a specified quantity of the test specimen for a set duration. Usually, the material cannot support combustion and must not undergo a loss of mass. In Canada, for instance, firewalls must be made of concrete, in building construction, buildings are typically divided into combustible and noncombustible ones. Combustible structures have more stringent limits on building height and area. A number of industrial processes produce combustible dust as a by-product, the most common being wood dust. In addition to wood, combustible dusts include metals, especially magnesium, titanium and aluminum, there are at least a 140 known substances that produce combustible dust. While the particles in a combustible dusts may be of any size, as of 2012, the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to adopt a comprehensive set of rules on combustible dust. When suspended in air, the particles of combustible dust present a potential for explosions. Accumulated dust, even when not suspended in air, remains a fire hazard, collectors designed to reduce airborne dust account for more than 40 percent of all dust explosions. Other important processes are grinding and pulverizing, transporting powders, filing silos and containers, investigation of 200 dust explosions and fires, between 1980 to 2005, indicated approximately 100 fatalities and 600 injuries. In January 2003, a powder explosion and fire at the West Pharmaceutical Services plant in Kinston, North Carolina resulted in the deaths of six workers
Combustibility
–
German test apparatus for determining combustibility at
Technische Universität Braunschweig.
23.
Shale gas
–
Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Shale gas has become an important source of natural gas in the United States since the start of this century. Some analysts expect that shale gas will greatly expand worldwide energy supply, China is estimated to have the worlds largest shale gas reserves. The Obama administration believes that increased shale gas development will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in 2012, US carbon dioxide emissions dropped to a 20-year low. Some 2011 studies pointed to high rates of decline of some shale gas wells as an indication that gas production may ultimately be much lower than is currently projected. But shale-gas discoveries are also opening up substantial new resources of tight oil / shale oil, Shale gas was first extracted as a resource in Fredonia, New York, in 1821, in shallow, low-pressure fractures. Horizontal drilling began in the 1930s, and in 1947 a well was first fracked in the U. S. Federal price controls on natural gas led to shortages in the 1970s, the federal government also provided tax credits and rules benefiting the industry in the 1980 Energy Act. The Department of Energy later partnered with private gas companies to complete the first successful air-drilled multi-fracture horizontal well in shale in 1986, the federal government further incentivized drilling in shale via the Section 29 tax credit for unconventional gas from 1980-2000. Microseismic imaging, an input to both hydraulic fracturing in shale and offshore oil drilling, originated from coalbeds research at Sandia National Laboratories. The DOE program also applied two technologies that had been developed previously by industry, massive hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling and that led to microseismic imaging. 6% of US gas production in 2000, when the federal tax credits expired. George P. Mitchell is regarded as the father of the gas industry. Mitchell Energy achieved the first economical shale fracture in 1998 using slick-water fracturing, since then, natural gas from shale has been the fastest growing contributor to total primary energy in the United States, and has led many other countries to pursue shale deposits. According to the IEA, shale gas could increase technically recoverable gas resources by almost 50%. Because shales ordinarily have insufficient permeability to allow significant fluid flow to a wellbore, Shale gas is one of a number of unconventional sources of natural gas, others include coalbed methane, tight sandstones, and methane hydrates. Shale gas areas are known as resource plays. The geological risk of not finding gas is low in resource plays, Shale has low matrix permeability, and so gas production in commercial quantities requires fractures to provide permeability. Horizontal drilling is used with shale gas wells, with lateral lengths up to 10,000 feet within the shale. Shales that host economic quantities of gas have a number of common properties and they are rich in organic material, and are usually mature petroleum source rocks in the thermogenic gas window, where high heat and pressure have converted petroleum to natural gas
Shale gas
–
Derrick and platform of drilling gas wells in Marcellus Shale - Pennsylvania
Shale gas
–
As of 2013, the US, Canada, and China are the only countries producing shale gas in commercial quantities. The US and Canada are the only countries where shale gas is a significant part of the gas supply.
Shale gas
–
Types
24.
Combustion
–
Combustion in a fire produces a flame, and the heat produced can make combustion self-sustaining. Combustion is often a sequence of elementary radical reactions. Solid fuels, such as wood, first undergo endothermic pyrolysis to produce gaseous fuels whose combustion then supplies the required to produce more of them. Combustion is often hot enough that light in the form of either glowing or a flame is produced, a simple example can be seen in the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen into water vapor, a reaction commonly used to fuel rocket engines. The bond energies in the play only a minor role, since they are similar to those in the combustion products. The heat of combustion is approximately -418 kJ per mole of O2 used up in the combustion reaction, uncatalyzed combustion in air requires fairly high temperatures. Complete combustion is stoichiometric with respect to the fuel, where there is no remaining fuel, thermodynamically, the chemical equilibrium of combustion in air is overwhelmingly on the side of the products. Thus, the smoke is usually toxic and contains unburned or partially oxidized products. Since combustion is rarely clean, flue gas cleaning or catalytic converters may be required by law, fires occur naturally, ignited by lightning strikes or by volcanic products. Combustion was the first controlled chemical reaction discovered by humans, in the form of campfires and bonfires, usually, the fuel is carbon, hydrocarbons or more complicated mixtures such as wood that contains partially oxidized hydrocarbons. Combustion is also currently the only used to power rockets. Combustion is also used to destroy waste, both nonhazardous and hazardous, oxidants for combustion have high oxidation potential and include atmospheric or pure oxygen, chlorine, fluorine, chlorine trifluoride, nitrous oxide and nitric acid. For instance, hydrogen burns in chlorine to form hydrogen chloride with the liberation of heat, although usually not catalyzed, combustion can be catalyzed by platinum or vanadium, as in the contact process. In complete combustion, the reactant burns in oxygen, producing a number of products. When a hydrocarbon burns in oxygen, the reaction will yield carbon dioxide. When elements are burned, the products are primarily the most common oxides, carbon will yield carbon dioxide, sulfur will yield sulfur dioxide, and iron will yield iron oxide. Nitrogen is not considered to be a combustible substance when oxygen is the oxidant, Combustion is not necessarily favorable to the maximum degree of oxidation, and it can be temperature-dependent. For example, sulfur trioxide is not produced quantitatively by the combustion of sulfur, NOx species appear in significant amounts above about 2,800 °F, and more is produced at higher temperatures
Combustion
–
The
flames caused as a result of a
fuel undergoing combustion (burning)
Combustion
–
The combustion of
methane, a
hydrocarbon.
Combustion
–
Container of ethanol vapour mixed with air, undergoing rapid combustion
Combustion
–
Colourized gray-scale composite image of the individual frames from a video of a backlit fuel droplet burning in microgravity.
25.
Electricity generation
–
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utilities, it is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers, the other processes as transmission, distribution, energy storage and recovery using pumped-storage methods are normally carried out by the electric power industry. Other energy sources include solar photovoltaics and geothermal power, the fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday. This method is used today, electricity is generated by the movement of a loop of wire. Central power stations became practical with the development of alternating current power transmission, using power transformers to transmit power at high voltage. Electricity has been generated at central stations since 1882, the use of power-lines and power-poles have been significantly important in the distribution of electricity. There are seven fundamental methods of transforming other forms of energy into electrical energy. Static electricity, form the physical separation and transport of charge and it was the first form discovered and investigated, and the electrostatic generator is still used even in modern devices such as the Van de Graaff generator and MHD generators. In Electromagnetic induction, a generator, dynamo or alternator transforms kinetic energy into electricity. This is the most used form for generating electricity and is based on Faradays law and it can be experimented by rotating a magnet within closed loops of a conducting material. Almost all commercial electrical generation is done using electromagnetic induction, in mechanical energy forces a generator to rotate. Almost all electrical power on Earth is generated with a turbine, driven by wind, water, there are many different methods of developing mechanical energy, including heat engines, hydro, wind and tidal power. Most electric generation is driven by heat engines, the combustion of fossil fuels supplies most of the heat to these engines, with a significant fraction from nuclear fission and some from renewable sources. The modern steam turbine currently generates about 80% of the power in the world using a variety of heat sources. Power sources include, Steam Water is boiled by coal burned in a power plant. Nuclear fission heat created in a nuclear reactor creates steam, less than 15% of electricity is generated this way. Natural gas, turbines are directly by gases produced by combustion. Combined cycle are driven by steam and natural gas
Electricity generation
–
Turbo generator
Electricity generation
–
Large dams such as
Three Gorges Dam in China can provide large amounts of
hydroelectric power; it has a 22.5
GW capability.
Electricity generation
–
Large dams such as
Hoover Dam can provide large amounts of
hydroelectric power; it has 2.07
GW capability.
Electricity generation
–
A coal-fired power plant in Laughlin, Nevada U.S.A. Owners of this plant ceased operations after declining to invest in pollution control equipment to comply with pollution regulations.
26.
District heating
–
District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating and water heating. District heating plants can provide higher efficiencies and better control than localized boilers. A combination of CHP and centralized heat pumps are used in the Stockholm multi energy system, the core element of many district heating systems is a heat-only boiler station. Additionally a cogeneration plant is added in parallel with the boilers. Both have in common that they are based on combustion of primary energy carriers. In the case of a fossil fueled cogeneration plant, the output is typically sized to meet half of the peak heat load. The boiler capacity will be able to meet the entire heat demand unaided and it is not economic to size the cogeneration plant alone to be able to meet the full heat load. In the New York City steam system, that is around 2.5 GW, Germany has the largest amount of CHP in Europe. The combination of cogeneration and district heating is very energy efficient, a simple thermal power station can be 20–35% efficient, whereas a more advanced facility with the ability to recover waste heat can reach total energy efficiency of nearly 80%. Some may exceed 100% based on the heating value by condensing the flue gas as well. Waste heat from nuclear plants is sometimes used for district heating. The principles for a combination of cogeneration and district heating applies the same for nuclear as it does for a thermal power station. Russia has several cogeneration nuclear plants which together provided 11.4 PJ of district heat in 2005, Russian nuclear district heating is planned to nearly triple within a decade as new plants are built. Other nuclear-powered heating from cogeneration plants are in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, one use of nuclear heat generation was with the Ågesta Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden closed in 1974. In Switzerland, the Beznau Nuclear Power Plant provides heat to about 20,000 people, history Geothermal district heating was used in Pompeii, and in Chaudes-Aigues since the 14th Century. In 1890, the first wells were drilled to access a hot water resource outside of Boise, in 1892, after routing the water to homes and businesses in the area via a wooden pipeline, the first geothermal district heating system was created. As of a 2007 study, there were 22 geothermal district heating systems in the United States, as of 2010, two of those systems have shut down. The table below describes the 20 GDHS currently operational in America, use of solar heat for district heating has been increasing in Denmark and Germany in recent years
District heating
–
Biomass fired district heating power plant in
Mödling,
Austria
District heating
–
Coal heating plant in
Wieluń (
Poland)
District heating
–
The cancelled Russian Gorky Nuclear Heating Plant in
Fedyakovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
District heating
–
District heating accumulation tower from Theiss near
Krems an der Donau in
Lower Austria with a thermal capacity of 2 gigawatt-hours (7.2 TJ)
27.
Land use
–
It also has been defined as the total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type. Land use practices vary considerably across the world, as of the early 1990s, about 13% of the Earth was considered arable land, with 26% in pasture, 32% forests and woodland, and 1. 5% urban areas. As Albert Guttenberg wrote many years ago, Land use is a key term in the language of city planning, commonly, political jurisdictions will undertake land-use planning and regulate the use of land in an attempt to avoid land-use conflicts. Land use plans are implemented through land division and use ordinances and regulations, Management consulting firms and non-governmental organizations will frequently seek to influence these regulations before they are codified. In colonial America, few regulations existed to control the use of land, as society shifted from rural to urban, public land regulation became important, especially to city governments trying to control industry, commerce, and housing within their boundaries. The first zoning ordinance was passed in New York City in 1916, in the 1970s, concerns about the environment and historic preservation led to further regulation. Today, federal, state, and local governments regulate growth, the majority of controls on land, however, stem from the actions of private developers and individuals. In these situations, judicial decisions and enforcement of private land-use arrangements can reinforce public regulation, two major federal laws have been passed in the last half century that limit the use of land significantly. These are the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Land use and land management practices have a major impact on natural resources including water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals. Land use information can be used to develop solutions for natural resource management issues such as salinity, for instance, water bodies in a region that has been deforested or having erosion will have different water quality than those in areas that are forested. Forest gardening, a food production system, is believed to be the oldest form of land use in the world. The major effect of use on land cover since 1750 has been deforestation of temperate regions. More recent significant effects of use include urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation, salinization. Land-use change, together with use of fuels, are the major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide. As a consequence the result has often been misery for large segments of the population and destruction of valuable ecosystems. Such narrow approaches should be replaced by a technique for the planning and management of resources that is integrated and holistic. This will ensure the quality of the land for human use, the prevention or resolution of social conflicts related to land use. The urban growth boundary is one form of land-use regulation, for example, Portland, Oregon is required to have an urban growth boundary which contains at least 20,000 acres of vacant land
Land use
–
Habitat fragmented by numerous roads near the
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Land use
–
The
citadel of
Kastellet, Copenhagen that has been converted into a park, showing multiple examples of
suburban land use
Land use
–
Air
28.
Waste management
–
Waste management or Waste disposal is all the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes amongst other things, collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and it also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidance on recycling etc. Waste management is intended to reduce effects of waste on health. Waste management practices are not uniform among countries, regions, there are a number of concepts about waste management which vary in their usage between countries or regions. The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimisation strategies, the aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste, see, resource recovery. The waste hierarchy is represented as a pyramid because the premise is for policy to take action first. The next step or preferred action is to reduce the generation of waste i. e. by re-use, the next is recycling which would include composting. Following this step is material recovery and waste-to-energy, energy can be recovered from processes i. e. landfill and combustion, at this level of the hierarchy. The final action is disposal, in landfills or through incineration without energy recovery and this last step is the final resort for waste which has not been prevented, diverted or recovered. The waste hierarchy represents the progression of a product or material through the stages of the pyramid of waste management. The hierarchy represents the latter parts of the life-cycle for each product, the life-cycle begins with design, then proceeds through manufacture, distribution, use and then follows through the waste hierarchys stages of reduce, reuse and recycle. Each of the stages of the life-cycle offers opportunities for policy intervention, to rethink the need for the product, to redesign to minimize waste potential. The key behind the life-cycle of a product is to optimize the use of the limited resources by avoiding the unnecessary generation of waste. Resource efficiency reflects the understanding that current, global, economic growth, globally, we are extracting more resources to produce goods than the planet can replenish. Resource efficiency is the reduction of the impact from the production and consumption of these goods, from final raw material extraction to last use. This process of resource efficiency can address sustainability, the Polluter pays principle is a principle where the polluting party pays for the impact caused to the environment. With respect to management, this generally refers to the requirement for a waste generator to pay for appropriate disposal of the unrecoverable material. Throughout most of history, the amount of waste generated by humans was insignificant due to low population density, common waste produced during pre-modern times was mainly ashes and human biodegradable waste, and these were released back into the ground locally, with minimum environmental impact
Waste management
–
Waste management in
Kathmandu,
Nepal
Waste management
–
Waste management in
Stockholm,
Sweden
Waste management
–
Sir
Edwin Chadwick 's 1842 report The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population was influential in securing the passage of the first legislation aimed at waste clearance and disposal.
Waste management
–
Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. 1894 destructor furnace. The use of
incinerators for waste disposal became popular in the late 19th century.
29.
Water resources
–
Water resources are sources of water that are potentially useful. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities, the majority of human uses require fresh water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is water, slightly over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is mainly as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. The framework for allocating resources to water users is known as water rights. Surface water is water in a river, lake or fresh water wetland, surface water is naturally replenished by precipitation and naturally lost through discharge to the oceans, evaporation, evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge. All of these factors affect the proportions of water loss. Human activities can have a large and sometimes devastating impact on these factors, humans often increase storage capacity by constructing reservoirs and decrease it by draining wetlands. Humans often increase runoff quantities and velocities by paving areas and channelizing the stream flow, the total quantity of water available at any given time is an important consideration. Some human water users have an intermittent need for water, for example, many farms require large quantities of water in the spring, and no water at all in the winter. To supply such a farm with water, a water system may require a large storage capacity to collect water throughout the year. Other users have a continuous need for water, such as a plant that requires water for cooling. To supply such a plant with water, a surface water system only needs enough storage capacity to fill in when average stream flow is below the power plants need. Nevertheless, over the term the average rate of precipitation within a watershed is the upper bound for average consumption of natural surface water from that watershed. Natural surface water can be augmented by importing water from another watershed through a canal or pipeline. It can also be artificially augmented from any of the sources listed here. Humans can also cause water to be lost through pollution. Brazil is the estimated to have the largest supply of fresh water in the world, followed by Russia
Water resources
–
Lake Chungará and
Parinacota volcano in northern Chile
Water resources
–
A graphical distribution of the locations of water on Earth. Only 3% of the Earth's water is fresh water. Most of it in icecaps and glaciers (69%) and groundwater (30%), while all lakes, rivers and swamps combined only account for a small fraction (0.3%) of the Earth's total freshwater reserves.
Water resources
–
Panorama of a natural wetland (
Sinclair Wetlands, New Zealand)
Water resources
–
A
shipot is a common water source in Central
Ukrainian villages
30.
Water pollution
–
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies. This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds, Water pollution affects the entire biosphere – plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population, Water pollution is a major global problem which requires ongoing evaluation and revision of water resource policy at all levels. It has been suggested that pollution is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases. An estimated 580 people in India die of water related illness every day. About 90 percent of the water in the cities of China is polluted, as of 2007, half a billion Chinese had no access to safe drinking water. In addition to the problems of water pollution in developing countries. The head of Chinas national development agency said in 2007 that one quarter the length of Chinas seven main rivers were so poisoned the water harmed the skin. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause changes in water quality. Although interrelated, surface water and groundwater have often studied and managed as separate resources. Surface water seeps through the soil and becomes groundwater, conversely, groundwater can also feed surface water sources. Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two based on their origin. Point source water pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway from a single, identifiable source, examples of sources in this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm drain. The U. S. Clean Water Act defines point source for regulatory enforcement purposes, the CWA definition of point source was amended in 1987 to include municipal storm sewer systems, as well as industrial storm water, such as from construction sites. Nonpoint source pollution refers to contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often the cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area, a common example is the leaching out of nitrogen compounds from fertilized agricultural lands. Nutrient runoff in storm water from sheet flow over a field or a forest are also cited as examples of NPS pollution. Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways, however, because this runoff is typically channeled into storm drain systems and discharged through pipes to local surface waters, it becomes a point source
Water pollution
–
Raw sewage and
industrial waste in the
New River as it passes from
Mexicali to
Calexico, California
Water pollution
–
Pollution in the
Lachine Canal, Canada
Water pollution
–
Point source pollution –
Shipyard –
Rio de Janeiro.
Water pollution
–
Poster to teach people in South Asia about human activities leading to the pollution of water sources
