Additional Activities: How Humans Harness Earth's Energy in Producing Electricity?

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
How humans harness Earth's energy in producing electricity?

Humans transfer and transform energy from the environment into forms useful for human
endeavors. Primary sources of energy also include renewables, such as sunlight, wind, moving water,
and geothermal energy.
Geothermal energy is heat that is generated by the heat of Earth’s molten interior. It is a
renewable resource that can be harvested for human use. This energy is harnessed to generate
electricity when water is injected deep underground and returns as steam (or hot water, which is later
converted to steam) to drive a turbine on an electric power generator. Almost anywhere in the world,
geothermal heat can be accessed and used immediately as a source of heat. People have long used
this type of geothermal energy for engineering, comfort, healing, and cooking.
In order to obtain enough energy to generate electricity, geothermal power plants rely on heat
that exists a few kilometers below the surface of the Earth. In some areas, the heat can naturally exist
underground as pockets steam or hot water.
Dry-steam power plants take advantage of natural underground sources of steam. The steam
is piped directly to a power plant, where it is used to fuel turbines and generate electricity. Dry steam
is the oldest type of power plant to generate electricity using geothermal energy. Flash-steam power
plants use naturally occurring sources of underground hot water and steam. Water that is hotter than
182° C (360° F) is pumped into a low-pressure area. Flash-steam power plants are the most common
type of geothermal power plants. Binary cycle power plants use a unique process to conserve water
and generate heat. Water is heated underground to about 107°-182° C (225°-360° F). However, most
areas need to be “enhanced” with injected water to create steam.
In conclusion, human harness Earth’s internal energy in producing electricity through the use
of different kinds of power plants like Dry-Steam Power Plants, Flash-Steam Power Plants, Binary
cycle power plants and Enhanced Geothermal Systems.
What are the latest developments on research on Earth's internal structure?
As time goes by, researches are everywhere and everyone shares their own theory about
Earth’s internal structure. Most of what we know about the interior of the Earth comes from the study
of seismic waves from earthquakes. Seismic waves allow us to put important constraints about the
structure of our planet and the physical properties of the materials hidden deep within it. Then there
are the volcanic rocks that emerge in some places on the Earth's surface from deep within and
provide important clues about the chemical composition of the mantle. And finally, there are lab
experiments that can simulate the conditions of the Earth's interior on a small scale.
A research team recently used a novel algorithm called the Sequencer that was initially
developed to find interesting trends in astronomical datasets and revealed structures deep inside the
Earth, paving the way towards a new map showing what Earth’s interior looks like. Using the
technique, scientists analyzed thousands of seismograms, or records of vibrations of the ground
following an Earthquake, collected over the past 30 years.
The algorithm aided scientists in passing through thousands of seismograms for echoes to
create a new map showing details of the Earth’s mantle, just above the liquid iron core, at a depth of
3,000 kilometers.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Volcanic rocks and plutonic rocks both are igneous rocks. They are formed when magma
(molten rock, typically derived from the earth's mantle) solidifies.
VOLCANIC ROCKS
Volcanic rocks are formed above the ground from the hot magma that erupts from a volcano
onto the surface of the Earth. The hot magma is called lava when it comes out onto the Earth's
surface. As the lava cools down it starts changing into crystals. The crystals continue to grow as long
as lava keeps losing heat and cools or solidifies. Volcanic rocks are formed quickly as the lava cools
quickly so their crystals tend to be very small and thus, they are fine-grained. These rocks can be
made of ash, which is a pulverized rock blown into the air. The volcanic rocks are named after
volcanoes as they are formed of lava that erupts from the volcanoes.
Some common examples of volcanic rocks are basalt, rhyolite, and obsidian.
PLUTONIC ROCKS
Plutonic rocks are igneous rocks that are formed underground or deep under the Earth's
surface. They are intrusive igneous rocks with coarse grain size and are formed due to the intrusion
or insertion of magma between other rocks below the surface of the Earth. This magma cools down
or solidifies below the surface to form plutonic rocks. Plutonic rocks are coarse-grained as they are
formed slowly that allows the formation of large crystals before the magma solidifies into a rock.
Plutonic rocks are one of the most commonly found rocks on the Earth. They serve as a foundation
for our continents and mountain ranges.
Some common examples of plutonic rocks are granite, diorite, aplite, pegmatite, syenite,
gabbro and granodiorite.

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How humans harness Earth's energy in producing electricity?

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