Download Technology Chapter 27: Energy: The Foundation of Technology

Technology
Chapter 27: Energy: The Foundation of Technology—Terms and Definitions
Biofuels: organic material that can be burned or converted into methane.
Biogas: A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the bacterial decomposition of organic
wastes and used as a fuel.
Biomass: a type of resource having a living origin.
Biotechnology: practices that improve propagation, growing, and harvesting activities.
Chemical energy: energy stored within a chemical substance.
Electrical energy: energy associated with electrons moving along a conductor.
Energy: the ability to do work.
Exhaustible energy resources: materials that cannot be replaced.
Fission: the process of splitting atoms to release vast quantities of energy.
Foot-pounds: a measurement of the amount of energy needed to move an object from one location
to another.
Fossil fuels: exhaustible resources that are mixtures of carbon and hydrogen.
Fusion: the process of combining two atoms into a new, larger atom to release large amounts of
energy.
Horsepower: a measurement used to describe the power output of mechanical systems.
Inexhaustible energy resources: a part of the solar weather system that exists on earth.
Joules: newtons per meter.
Kilowatt hour: the work that 1000 watts will complete in one hour.
Kinetic energy: energy involved in moving something.
Mechanical energy: energy produced by motion of technological devices.
Nuclear energy: energy produced by the fusion of atoms.
Potential energy: stored energy.
Power: the rate at which work is done.
Radiant energy: energy in the form of electromagnetic waves.
Renewable energy resources: a biological material that can be grown and harvested.
Solar weather system: the natural cycle that starts with solar energy.
Thermal energy: heat energy.
Water cycle: a cycle powered partially by solar energy.
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Permission granted to reproduce for educational use only.
Watt: one joule of work per second.
Work: applying a force that moves a mass a distance in the direction of the applied force.
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Permission granted to reproduce for educational use only.