What are natural

resources?

Natural resources are items we take from the Earth to use for living.

• Who makes natural resources?

• Can you name some natural resources?

Two types of natural resources:

1. Nonrenewable Resources

2. Renewable Resources

Nonrenewable Resource:

• A resource we get from the earth, that we can run out of someday. Once these resources are gone, we can NEVER get them back again in our lifetime.

• Fossil fuels» Petroleum oil» Natural gas» Coal

Fossil Fuels

• takes millions of years to form (make)• animals and plants die and are buried under

layers of sedimentary rock• Types of fossil fuels:

– coal– natural gas– oil

• Gasoline is NOT a fossil fuel but fossil fuels are used to make gasoline/petroleum

Fossil fuels are natural resources.

Fossil fuels are made out of plants and animals that died many, many years ago…..over 50 thousand years ago. Here is how it

goes…

• Plants or animals die

Bummer, I died!

Sediments pile up on top of the plant or animal’s body for thousands of years.

The body starts to rot under all of that pressure from the layers.

This takes many hundreds of thousands of years to happen.

The rotted body and plants start to decompose and turns into fossil fuels.

Humans dig into the ground to dig out the fossil fuels.

We mine out the COAL.

and burn it in electric companies to make steam to make turbines spin to make electricity

for our homes.

But Coal creates A LOT of pollution.

Or we bring it out

in oil wells…..

Old wells

Wells used today

Oil can be found on land or in the ocean

once again to burn it in electric companies to make steam to make turbines spin to make

electricity for our homes.

But oil creates A LOT of pollution too.

Or we pump it out as natural gas..

Natural gas can be found in land and water

once again to burn it in electric companies to make steam to make turbines spin to make

electricity for our homes.

But natural gas creates A LOT of pollution too.

Plus……it is very expensive to mine

coal or to pump natural gas and

petroleum oil from the ground.

Plus……we are running out of

fossil fuels….so we need to find other sources of energy.

And once we run out of fossil fuels, we can not get them back again ….

That is why they are called

non renewable resources.

Examples of Thermal heatusing nonrenewable resources

Can you think of any new resources

we can use for energy???

Alternative or Renewable Resources:

• A resource we get from the earth, that we can run out of, but we can always get more of.

» All Plants» All Animals» Soil

Soil is considered a renewable resource because when we use

it, we take the minerals and vitamins out of it.

Once gone, we must replace those minerals and vitamins with fertilizer….or the plants we plant in that location will not grow strong. They will be weak and not produce much food.

or

Can you name some more alternative or renewable resources?

• Water

• Air or wind

• Sun’s energy

• Biofuels

• Biomass

Solar Energy

• comes from the sun

• natural resource

• does NOT cause pollution

• cheap…sun’s rays are free

• solar panels can be expensive

• inexhaustible resource (never used up)

Examples of Solar energy

Wind energy• comes from the wind• natural resource• does not cause pollution• cheap, wind is free• unreliable because sometimes the wind

does not blow• wind farms becoming more popular• inexhaustible resource (never used up)

Examples of wind energy

Hydro Energy

• comes from moving water

• natural resource

• does not cause pollution

• cheap, water is free

• unreliable because sometimes water is not available

• inexhaustible resource (never used up)

Examples of hydro energy

Static Energy

• comes from friction

• manmade and natural

• does not cause pollution

• cheap, rubbing 2 surfaces together

• not powerful enough for human to always use

• inexhaustible resource (never used up)

Examples of Static Energy

• sometimes called “static electricity”

Chemical Energy

• comes from batteries or combustion

• manmade from natural resources

• expensive to create

• causes pollution sometimes– If using fossil fuels to make

• researching new ways to make (wind, water)

• both inexhaustible and nonrenewable depending on how its made

Examples of Chemical Energy

Batteries

(heat energy)

• comes from the earth – fossil fuels

• natural resource

• decaying/decomposing plants and animals that died MILLIONS of years ago

• causes pollution

• expensive to get out of the earth

• we will run out someday

• nonrenewable resource (cannot be made)

All make electric energy