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Given the law of conservation of energy and the law of conservation of matter, how is it that humans are facing an energy crisis associated with our consumption of fossil fuels?
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Humans are facing an energy crisis associated with our consumption of fossil fuels because we are running out of resources. These resources (fossil fuels, coal, and petroleum) are getting burned. when they are burned a chemical change takes place, at the atomic scale bonds break, and new bonds form. This results in new substances. The energy that we get from the resources comes from inside the chemical bonds, so when these bonds are broken, the energy is released.
The law of conservation of matter states that matter can neither be destroyed nor created in ordinary chemical reactions, when atoms simply rearrange, but do not split or fuse (an example of this would be nuclear fision/fusion). Matter can be "used up" by transformation, tied up for another purpose, or diluted or contaminated to the point where it would take too much energy to retreive it. What we are running out of in respect to matter is matter in useful forms. We use this matter to provide energy for transportation, heating, and electricity. Consuming resources means transforming the fossil fuels into less useful forms or substances. When we burn fossil fuel the fuel is combined with O2(oxygen) and is transformed into CO2 and H2O. Since we can't burn or use this CO2 or water to supply energy it is less useful to us. The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed in any process, as long as one considers matter as a form of energy. We are not running out of energy because it is not possible. We are running out of energy in useful forms. We use this energy for transportation, heating, electricity production. Consuming energy means transfering or transforming the useful energy from useful to less useful or available forms. The transformation of energy goes through the following process. The chemical potential energy (chem. PE) of fuel and O2(oxygen) is transferred to the chem. PE of CO2 and H2O. This chem. PE of CO2 and H2O is low or less useful. The chem. PE of fuel and O2 is also transformed into thermal energy. Thermal energy cannot be contained except for within a vacuum. It therefore escapes into the universe and cannot be trapped. |
