Geology Questions

GEO 105 – Fall, 2014 – Questions to Study for Exam 2

In order to study for Exam 2, which will be given on Thursday, November 6, study the following questions by consulting material

that was presented in class, which are posted on Blackboard. Exam 2 questions will be chosen mostly, but not entirely, from among

these questions, and from the study questions for Exam 1. The questions on the actual exam may be modified from ones that are

given in the study questions. In the case of the questions at the end of this list that require calculations, some of the numbers may be

different from the ones that are provided in the study questions.

While you may ask for help from the instructor or the teaching assistants at office hours, or consult with other students in the class

in order to study the questions, the instructor and the teaching

assistants will not distribute or discuss answers to any of the questions by email. If you need help, please consider attending

office hours.

For these questions, and for the exam, assume that … g = 10 m/s

2

———————————————————————————– 1. What common element makes up most of the mass of typical solar

photoelectric panels?

2. What are some advantages of hydropower over other energy sources?

3. What is the quantitative relationship (the equation) between amperage and power loss due to heat in an electric transmission line?

 

4. What process produces the sun’s energy?

5. In an electric power plant that is fueled by nuclear fission, what substance typically spins the turbine directly to generate electricity?

6. What is the primary energy source that is used to generate electricity at

the Indian Point Energy Center?

7. What is a smart grid?

8. What are some advantages of wind energy over other energy sources?

9. What type of nuclear energy, a) fission, or b) fusion, is most commonly used to produce electric power?

 

 

 

10. What type of particle, produced by fission of nuclei, is needed to collide with other nuclei in order to sustain a chain reaction?

11. What type of nuclear decay emits a particle that is about equal in mass

to the mass of a typical helium nucleus?

12. What is the most commonly used fuel for nuclear fission reactors in the United States?

13. Name a country that derives over 75% of its electricity from nuclear

power?

14. If wind speed doubles, by what factor does power increase in a wind turbine?

 

15. If the depth of a vertical-walled hydroelectric reservoir is doubled, by what factor does the amount of gravitational potential energy that can be

stored in the reservoir increase, assuming that the turbines are at the same elevation as the base of the reservoir?

16. What is a microgrid, and how can it help support the functioning of a

smart grid?

17. How are cogeneration plants, such as the one on the Stony Brook University campus, typically more energy efficient than typical large power

plants?

18. What source accounts for most of the Earth’s internal heat energy?

19. Where, in the human body, does strontium-90 tend to deposit?

20. Which of the following is suitable for short term storage of electric

power, but unsuitable for long term storage? A) batteries B) pumped storage C) flywheels

21. A coulomb is a unit of what? A) power B) energy C) mass D) electric

charge C) momentum

22. Which of the following sources generates the most electric power in the United States? A) oil B) gas C) coal D) hydropower E) nuclear

23. What is the difference between direct current and alternating current?

 

 

 

24. What element is most commonly added to the main element in the

crystals for the doping of the N layer of solar cells?

25. What element is most commonly added to the main element in the crystals for the doping of the P layer of solar cells?

26. If the speed of the wind flowing through an ideal wind turbine is

doubled, by what factor is the power produced by the wind turbine multiplied?

27. What is the numerical quantity of the solar constant?

28. About what numerical quantity of solar power typically reaches a square

meter of the Earth’s surface where the sun is directly overhead on a clear day?

 

29. Which of the four economic energy sectors uses the least electricity in the United States?

30. What challenges would a major increase in the use of electric vehicles

pose for the electric grid?

31. How would a smart grid benefit from an increase in the use of electric vehicles?

32. How many valence electrons does silicon have?

33. What are some advantages of nuclear fission energy?

34. What are some disadvantages of nuclear fission energy?

 

35. What are some advantages of nuclear fusion energy?

36. What are some disadvantages of nuclear fusion energy?

37. What substance does a breeder reactor convert to Plutonium-239?

38. Which country derives about 20% of its electricity from wind energy?

39. What effect does beta-minus decay have on the number of protons in an atomic nucleus?

40. What is the purpose of a moderator in a nuclear reactor?

 

 

 

41. What is the fuel that would generally be used for a nuclear fusion

reactor?

42. What isotope makes up over 99% of natural uranium?

43. In what part of the human body does most Strontium-90 typically get deposited if it is ingested?

44. What is generally considered to be the most serious nuclear reactor

accident that has ever occurred, in part because it subjected about 30 workers to lethal radiation doses?

45. How is a fast neutron reactor able to produce less transuranic waste

than slow reactors?

46. What is the Lawson criterion?

47. How is the direction of current flow considered to relate to the direction

of flow of electrons in a metal wire that is part of a circuit?

48. What technology is the most intensive use of geothermal energy?

Quantitative Questions – Answers are provided here so you may practice, however, the numbers may be different on the exam.

49. If one thousand kilograms of water is ready to fall from the top of a 50

meter waterfall, what is its gravitational potential energy? (Answer: 500,000 joules)

50. What is the amount of power supplied by electricity if voltage in a circuit

is 120 volts, and flow is 2 amps? (Answer: 240 watts)

51. What is the amperage of a circuit, if the voltage is 240 volts and total

resistance of the circuit is 12 ohms? (Answer: 20 amps)

52. If a transformer on a utility pole has 100 turns in its primary coil, how many turns would it need in its secondary coil to convert a voltage from

1200 volts at the distribution line to 120 volts to feed into a home? (Answer: 10 turns)

53. If a set of solar panels that faces the sun directly has a total area of 5

m 2 and an efficiency of 20%, and the solar irradiance at noon there is 1

kW/m 2 , how many 100-watt bulbs can they keep lit while the sun is shining

at noon? (Answer: 10 bulbs)

 

 

54. The Indian Point Energy Center has a capacity to produce electricity at a

rate of about 2 gigawatts. If this power (P = IV) is transmitted at 500,000 volts, what would be the amperage (flow rate, or I) of the current? (Answer:

4000 amps)

55. Assuming a starting population of 1,000,000 atoms of lead-210 in a sample of salt marsh peat, what would be the population of lead-210, which

has a radioactive half-life of about 22.3 years, in the sample after 44.6 years, if lead-210 removal was only by nuclear decay? (Answer: 250,000

atoms)

56. If sunshine at noon in Tucson, Arizona falls on a 10 square meters set of solar panels at an insolation rate of 1000 watts per square meter, how much

solar energy falls on the set of solar panels in 1 hour? (Answer: 36,000,000 joules)