Geothermal Energy.

Over the past few months I have been setting simple activities for my students in my Science lessons. We have been covering the different types of energy and where they come from, so I have put together a simple text in English on each energy type, and setting 5 simple questions based on the text. Please feel free to have a go, and see how many question you can get correctly and how much of the text you can understand and therefore learn about Energy! The first one I will post, will be on Geothermal Energy. Good luck! 

Geothermal energy

You should be able to outline how electricity is generated from geothermal energy.

Volcanic areas

Several types of rock contain radioactive substances such as uranium. Radioactive decay of these substances releases heat energy, which warms up the rocks. In volcanic areas, the rocks may heat water so that it rises to the surface naturally as hot water and steam. Here the steam can be used to drive turbines and electricity generators. This type of geothermal power station exists in places such as Iceland, California and Italy.

Hot rocks

In some places, the rocks are hot, but no hot water or steam rises to the surface. In this situation, deep wells can be drilled down to the hot rocks and cold water pumped down. The water runs through fractures in the rocks and is heated up. It returns to the surface as hot water and steam, where its energy can be used to drive turbines and electricity generators. The diagram below shows how this works.

Credit level:

Advantages

Geothermal energy is a renewable energy resource and there are no fuel costs. No harmful polluting gases are produced.

Disadvantages

Most parts of the world do not have suitable areas where geothermal energy can be exploited.

Questions:

1: What countries can you find Geothermal Power stations?

2: What do these countries have in common?

3: How do geothermal power stations collect hot water, when the hot water does not rise to the surface?

4: What are the advantages and disadvantages of Geothermal energy?

5: Fill in the missing words:

In volcanic areas, the rocks may heat water so that it rises to the surface naturally as …… water and …... Here the steam can be used to drive ………. and electricity generators. This type of ………. power station exists in places such as ……….., California and Italy.