1. What is energy?
a) energy is force per unit area
b) energy is pressure times distance
c) energy is force times displacement
d) energy is heat delivered per unit time
2. When an automobile stops for a stoplight, its kinetic energy
a) is converted to thermal energy.
b) completely disappears.
c) is transferred to the pavement.
d) is stored in the automobile's battery.
3. An object of mass 10 kg falls from the top of a building 10 m high and lands on the ground below. How much work was done by the force of gravity?
a) 0 J
b) 98 J
c) 100 J
d) 980 J
4. At our present rate of use, the estimated total remaining recoverable petroleum of the U.S. would supply our needs for about ________ years.
a) 72
b) 48
c) 20
d) 8
5. The U.S. is using liquid petroleum at a rate of about
a) 20 million gallons per day
b) 20 million barrels per day
c) 20 million barrels per week
d) 20 million gallons per week
6. A reasonable estimate for Q_infinity(petroleum) for the world is
105 million gallons
105 billions gallons
105 trillion gallons
105 quadrillion gallons
7. The total annual energy consumption in the U.S. is about _______ QBtu, and this is about ______ tons of coal per year for each person in the U.S.
a) 80, 13
b) 800, 130
c) 8000, 1.4
d) 98, 13
8. The estimated total minable coal in the United States is about
a) 275 billion tons
b) 500 million tons
c) 500 billion tons
d) 1.5 trillion tons
9. If you burned 10 pounds of coal to release the heat, how many pounds of wood would your friend have to burn to release the same amount?
a) 10 lbs
b) 12.75 lbs
c) 16.25 lbs
d) 8.0 lbs
10. How many Btu's are there in one kilowatt-hour?
a) 4220
b) 3413
c) 2110
d) 1055
11. A horizontal force of 80 pounds is exerted on a box which moves the box 10 feet across a horizontal floor in 5 seconds. What is the power generated by this force?
a) 0.66 hp
b) 0.51 hp
c) 0.34 hp
d) 0.29 hp
12. In the U.S. we currently import more than _______ of the oil that we consume.
a) 10%
b) 50%
c) 33%
d) 66%
13. What is a reasonable number for the years remaining until the world's oil supply is completely depleted?
a) 10
b) 50
c) 100
d) 200
14. What is coal, mostly? And which type gives off the most heat when burned?
a) carbon, bituminous
b) carbon, anthracite
c) hydrocarbons, lignite
d) hydrocarbons, subbituminous
15. Approximately how much coal is produced each year in the U.S.?
a) 1 million tons
b) 1 billion tons
c) 1 trillion tons
d) 2 quadrillion tons
16. When a magnet is moved within or near a conducting coil an electrical current is induced in the coil of wire. Who discovered this?
a) Franklin
b) Edison
c) Maxwell
d) Faraday
17. Your house foundation and ground floor is made up of 1000 cubic feet of concrete. About how many Btu are required to raise the temperature of the foundation and floor by 25 degrees F? Given: 22 Btu per cubic feed per degreee F for concrete.
a) 55,000 Btu
b) 220,000 Btu
c) 250,000 Btu
d) 550,000 Btu
18. What is the typical voltage output of an individual solar cell?
a) 0.5 volt
b) 5 volt
c) 9 volt
d) 24 volts
19. Hydroelectric power in the U.S. currently represents about _______% of the total U.S. electricity.
40
1
7
less than 1
20. A windmill system which produces 6 kW of electrical power when the wind is blowing 5 m/s will produce _______ kilowatts when the wind is blowing 10 m/s?
a) 72
b) 36
c) 48
d) 12
21. Which isotope of uranium is particularly good for fission with thermal neutrons?
a) uranium-235
b) uranium-233
c) uranium-238
d) uranium-236
22. What is mean by a "thermal neutron"?
a) a neutron with kinetic energy about 5 MeV
b) one of the neutrons which is produced in a typical nuclear fission reaction
c) a neutron inside any large nuclues
d) a neutron with kinetic energy 1/40 of an eV
23. What is the purpose of a breeder reactor?
a) reduce the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation
b) to extend the useful lifetime of our uranium
c) to reduce the thermal polution
d) reduce the amount of plutonium produced
24. The mass of your iPod is 100 grams. The equivalent mass energy is ________.
a) 2.5 billion kWh
b) 2.5 trillion kWh
c) 0.83 million kWh
d) 83 trillion kWh
25. What is a reasonable number for the degree days in a heating season in North-Central Minnesota?
a) 3,000
b) 5,000
c) 10,000
d) 20,000
26. How many Btu per hour are lost through a 100-square foot wall that is made up of a 12-inch thick concrete block wall with an R value of 1.89 and 4 inches of fiberglass insulation with an R value of 14.8? The inside temperature is 65 degrees F and the outside temperature is 15 degrees F.
a) 116 Btu/hr
b) 550 Btu/hr
c) 200 Btu/hr
d) 300 Btu/hr
27. There are about 107 million homes in the U.S. Suppose each home has two people using a hair dryer each day, each for 5 minutes. The hair dryer consume at a rate of 1000 watts. How much energy does this take each day?
32 trillion joules
64 trillion joules
32 billion joules
64 billion joules
28. How much energy is saved by recycling 3 steel cans per week for a year (as compared to throwing the cans in the trash)?
72,000 Btu
155,000 Btu
312,000 Btu
440,000 Btu
29. In the U.S., about _______ QBtu of energy is used each year in fuel used for transportation.
a) 27 QBtu
b) 20 QBtu
c) 13 QBtu
d) 6 QBtu
30. According to the Transportation Energy Data Book, the expected fuel economy at 55 miles per hour as compared with 75 miles per hour increases by ______ miles per gallon.
a) 7 mpg
b) 5 mpg
c) 2 mpg
d) 10 mpg
31. In terms of traffic fatalities per vehicle mile, which mode of transportation is the safest?
a) bus
b) auto
c) airplane
d) train
32. During a vehicle crash, a person undergoes serious accelerations. What is the maximum magnitude of accleration a person can withstand and still live?
a) 10 g
b) 30 g
c) 120 g
d) 60 g
33. Under normal conditions (adiabatic lapse rate is -0.65 degrees C per 100 meters) what is the temperature at the top of an 18,000 foot mountain if the temperature is 72 degrees F at sea level?
a) 8 degrees F
b) 12 degrees F
c) 22 degrees F
d) 32 degrees F
34. The springtime pH in Minnesota's surface water is about 5.0. This means the H+ concentration is how many times greater than "neutral"?
a) 2 times
b) 100 times
c) 56 times
d) 316 times
35. What does the Dobson unit measure?
a) concentration of carbon dioxide
b) concentration of ozone
c) concentration of H+ ions
d) concentration of CFCs
36. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere was about 280 ppm in 1860 (before we began burning fossil fuels). What is it today?
a) 340 ppm
b) 380 ppm
c) 320 ppm
d) 290 ppm
37. Why is it that CO_2 and H_2O are culprits in the so-called greenhouse effect?
a) ultraviolet radiation can't make it past
b) ultraviolet radiation can move right past
c) infrared radiation can't make it past
d) infrared radiation can move right past
38. The acid rain problem in North America is primarily attributable to
a) burning gasoline in our cars
b) burning natural gas in our homes
c) the CO_2 from burning any of the fossil fuels
d) the SO_2 from burning coal at power plants
39. Approximately how many traffic-related fatalities are there per year in the U.S.?
a) 42,000
b) 32,000
c) 16,000
d) 8,000
40. What percentage of American workers drive their vehicles to work (alone)?
a) 33
b) 46
c) 58
d) 76.