Kidz Zone

KIDZ ZONE ENERGY SCHOOL

TYPES OF ENERGY

Energy is in everything. We use energy for everything we do, from making a jump shot to baking cookies to sending astronauts into space. For example, the food you eat contains chemical energy, and your body stores this energy until you use it when you work or play.

Energy Sources Can be Categorized as Renewable or Nonrenewable

When we use electricity in our home, the electrical power was probably generated by burning coal, by a nuclear reaction, or by a hydroelectric plant at a dam. Therefore, coal, nuclear and hydro are called energy sources. When we fill up a gas tank, the source might be petroleum or ethanol made by growing and processing corn.

Energy sources are divided into two groups — renewable (an energy source that can be easily replenished) and nonrenewable (an energy source that we are using up and cannot recreate). Renewable and nonrenewable energy sources can be used to produce secondary energy sources including electricity and hydrogen.

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy sources include:

  • Solar energy from the sun, which can be turned into electricity and heat
  • Wind
  • Geothermal energy from heat inside the Earth
  • Biomass from plants, which includes firewood from trees, ethanol from corn, and biodiesel from vegetable oil
  • Hydropower from hydroturbines at a dam

Nonrenewable Energy

We get most of our energy from nonrenewable energy sources, which include the fossil fuels — oil, natural gas, and coal. They’re called fossil fuels because they were formed over millions and millions of years by the action of heat from the Earth’s core and pressure from rock and soil on the remains (or “fossils”) of dead plants and creatures like microscopic diatoms. Another nonrenewable energy source is the element uranium, whose atoms we split (through a process called nuclear fission) to create heat and ultimately electricity.

QUESTION SET: TYPES OF ENERGY

Select the letter that best answers the question

  1. _____________ energy is energy that comes from plants, including firewood, corn, and vegetable oil.
    1. Solar
    2. Biomass
    3. Geothermal
    4. Hydropower
  2. The two groups of energy are called:
    1. Fossil and Plant
    2. Gases and Fuels
    3. Renewables and Non-Renewables
    4. Gravitational and Electric
  3. Energy Sources are used to ___________ that powers our homes, businesses, schools, and factories.
    1. Generate Electricity
    2. Transmit Force
    3. Transform Static
    4. Grow Life
  4. True or False: Most of our energy comes from Renewables Sources?
    1. True
    2. False
  5. Energy Sources can produce both electricity and _________.
    1. Helium
    2. Oxygen
    3. Carbon
    4. Hydrogen
  6. Fossil fuels take _________ of years to form inside the earth.
    1. Thousands
    2. Hundreds
    3. Millions
    4. Dozens