Packed with caffeine, sugar, and other fancy-sounding miracle ingredients like taurine and unicorn tears, energy drinks promise to help you stay awake, boost athletic performance, and give you wings maybe. Sure, these promises seem a little far-fetched, but anyone who's had one or two of these drinks in a row knows that too many of them can make you a jittery mess.
So at what point does your regular energy drink become dangerous? If caffeine is technically a drug, then is it possible to overdose on caffeine-laced energy drinks? Energy drinks get their energy mostly from caffeine, about 50mg to mg per can.
But most formulas contain other energy-producing ingredients , such as guarana another stimulant , ginseng herbal supplement supposed to help with energy and mental function , and B vitamins also for energy. These fizzy beverages also tend to be packed with lots of sugar to make them tolerable.
Although 20g to 30g of sugar in a serving isn't necessarily deadly on the spot, too much of the sweet stuff can lead to a whole host of life-threatening issues, such as diabetes, metabolic disorders, and heart disease. Sure, there are sugar-free varieties, but those are just laced with artificial sweeteners instead ; not exactly a marked improvement.
But in terms of an overdose and what can kill you the fastest, the most dangerous of all these magical ingredients is the caffeine. Caffeine affects everyone differently, which is why some coffee addicts are able to down three cold brews before work and be fine, and other weaklings are reduced to shaking in the fetal position after one shot of espresso.
It is extremely abundant, widespread, and will never run out. But there are problems with the widespread use of solar power. Remember that potential energy is the energy of an object waiting to fall. Water held behind a dam has a lot of potential energy. In a hydroelectric plant, a dam across a riverbed holds a stream to create a reservoir. Instead of flowing down its normal channel, the water is allowed to flow into a large turbine.
As the water moves, it has kinetic energy, which makes the turbine spin. The turbine is connected to a generator, which makes electricity figure Most of the streams in the United States and elsewhere in the developed world that are suitable for hydroelectric power have already been dammed figure In California, about Hydroelectric dams like this one use the power of moving water to create electricity.
The dam was controversial because it flooded Glen Canyon, a beautiful desert canyon. The major benefit of hydropower is that it generates power without releasing any pollution. Hydropower is also a renewable resource since the stream will keep on flowing. However, there are a limited number of suitable dam sites.
Hydropower also has environmental problems. As the land is flooded by rising water, plants and animals are displaced or killed. Many beautiful landscapes, villages, and archeological sites have been drowned by the water in a reservoir figure The dam and turbines also change the downstream environment for fish and other living things.
Dams slow the release of silt so that downstream deltas retreat and seaside cities become dangerously exposed to storms and rising sea levels. The energy of waves and tides can be used to produce water power. Tidal power stations may need to close off a narrow bay or estuary.
Wave power applications have to be able to withstand coastal storms and the corrosion of seawater. Because of the many problems with them, tide and wave power plants are not very common. Although not yet widely used, many believe tidal power has more potential than wind or solar power for meeting alternative energy needs.
Quest radio looks at plans for harnessing power from the sea by San Francisco and along the northern California coast. Wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the world. Windmills are now seen in many locations, either individually or, more commonly, in large fields.
Wind Powering America follows the development of wind power in the United States over the past several years. Energy from the sun also creates wind, which can be used as wind power. The sun heats different locations on Earth by different amounts. Air that becomes warm rises and then sucks cooler air into that spot. The movement of air from one spot to another along the ground creates wind.
Since wind is moving, it has kinetic energy. Wind turbines like the ones shown here turn wind into electricity without creating pollution. Wind is the source of energy for wind power. Wind has been used for power for centuries.
For example, windmills were used to grind grain and pump water. Sailing ships traveled by wind power long before ships were powered by fossil fuels. Wind can be used to generate electricity, as the moving air spins a turbine to create electricity figure This animation shows how wind power works.
Wind power has many advantages. It does not burn, so it does not release pollution or carbon dioxide. Also, wind is plentiful in many places. Wind, however, does not blow all of the time, even though power is needed all of the time. Just as with solar power, engineers are working on technologies that can store wind power for later use. Windmills are expensive and wear out quickly. A lot of windmills are needed to power a region, so nearby residents may complain about the loss of a nice view if a wind farm is built.
Coastlines typically receive a lot of wind, but wind farms built near beaches may cause unhappiness for local residents and tourists. Opponents are in favor of green power but not at that location. Cape Wind off of Cape Cod in Massachusetts receives a great deal of wind red color but is also popular with tourists for its beauty. California was an early adopter of wind power. Windmills are found in mountain passes where the cooler Pacific Ocean air is sucked through on its way to warmer inland valleys.
Geothermal energy comes from heat deep below the surface of the Earth. Nothing must be done to the geothermal energy. It is a resource that can be used without processing. The heat that is used for geothermal power may come to the surface naturally as hot springs or geysers, like The Geysers in northern California.
Where water does not naturally come to the surface, engineers may pump cool water into the ground. The water is heated by the hot rock and then pumped back to the surface for use. The hot water or steam from a geothermal well spins a turbine to make electricity. Geothermal energy is clean and safe. The energy source is renewable since hot rock is found everywhere in the Earth, although in many parts of the world the hot rock is not close enough to the surface for building geothermal power plants.
In some areas, geothermal power is common figure A geothermal energy plant in Iceland. Iceland gets about one fourth of its electricity from geothermal sources. In the United States, California is a leader in producing geothermal energy. The source of heat is thought to be a large magma chamber lying beneath the area. In California, The Geysers supplies energy for many nearby homes and businesses. Biofuels, such as ethanol, are added to gasoline to cut down the amount of fossil fuels that are used.
Biomass is the material that comes from plants and animals that were recently living. Biomass can be burned directly, such as setting fire to wood. For as long as humans have had fire, people have used biomass for heating and cooking. People can also process biomass to make fuel, called biofuel. Biofuel can be created from crops, such as corn or algae, and processed for use in a car figure The advantage to biofuels is that they burn more cleanly than fossil fuels.
As a result, they create less pollution and less carbon dioxide. Critics say, however, that the amount of energy, fertilizer, and land needed to produce the crops used make biofuels only a slightly better alternative than fossil fuels. Skip to main content. Geological Implications. Search for:.
Energy Resources Everything requires energy. The Need for Energy Figure 1. Figure 2. A controlled fire. Figure 3. Anthracite coal is a non-renewable energy resource. Figure 7. Industrial geothermal technologies have been concentrated in the western U. In , Nevada had 59 geothermal projects either operational or in development, followed by California with 31 projects, and Oregon with 16 projects. The cost of geothermal energy technology has gone down in the last decade, and is becoming more economically possible for individuals and companies.
Since the three countries with the greatest capacity for geothermal energy use have included the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Turkey and Kenya have been steadily building geothermal energy capacity as well. Balneotherapy Balneotherapy is the treatment of disease by spa watersusually bathing and drinking. The most famous balneotheraputic spa in the world, Iceland's Blue Lagoon, is not a natural hot spring.
It is a manmade feature where water from a local geothermal power plant is pumped over a lava bed rich in silica and sulfur. These elements react with the warm water to create a bright blue lake with alleged healing properties.
Ring of Geothermal Geothermal energy sources are often located on plate boundaries, where the Earths crust is constantly interacting with the hot mantle below. The Pacifics so-called Ring of Fire and East Africas Rift Valley are volcanically active areas that hold enormous potential for geothermal power generation. The Fumaroles There are no geysers at The Geysers, one of the most productive geothermal plants in the world.
The California facility sits on fumarolesvents in the Earths crust where steam and other gases not liquids escape from the Earths interior. Native American usually does not include Eskimo or Hawaiian people. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Andrew Turgeon Elizabeth Morse. Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society.
Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.
If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.
In its common usage, the word heat refers to both thermal energy and its transfer from a warmer object to a cooler object. Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that studies heat transfer between systems. This field has observed the laws of thermodynamics which define how heat, within a system, flows and does work.
In any system, when two objects with different temperatures are brought into contact with one another, they will eventually establish thermodynamic equilibrium. As heat moves from one object to the other, physical changes will take place: the balloon filled with gas will grow or shrink, the roadway will expand or contract, the electrical resistance in the circuit will increase or decrease, and these changes are predictable and can be measured.
Engineers and scientists take these laws into account when they design projects and experiments. Use these resources to learn more about thermodynamics.
According to the United States Geologic Survey, there are approximately 1, potentially active volcanoes worldwide. Most are located around the Pacific Ocean in what is commonly called the Ring of Fire.
A volcano is defined as an opening in the Earth's crust through which lava, ash, and gases erupt. The term also includes the cone-shaped landform built by repeated eruptions over time.
Teach your students about volcanoes with this collection of engaging material. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. Flash-Steam Power Plant Flash-steam power plants use naturally occurring sources of underground hot water and steam. Advantages There are many advantages to using geothermal energy either directly or indirectly: Geothermal energy is renewable; it is not a fossil fuel that will be eventually used up.
The Earth is continuously radiating heat out from its core, and will continue to do so for billions of years. Some form of geothermal energy can be accessed and harvested anywhere in the world. Using geothermal energy is relatively clean. Coal and natural gas are expected to last a little longer. If we continue to use these fossil fuels at the current rate without finding additional reserves, it is expected that coal and natural gas will last until However, the consumption of natural gas grew considerably last year, rising by 4.
Despite seeing a decline in demand during and , saw a 0. Renowned as the most polluting fossil fuel, efforts to reduce the usage of coal have been the most noticeable.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Jackson Howarth.
0コメント