Seawater has a pH greater than 7 and is slightly alkaline due to dissolved basic minerals and natural buffering from carbonates and bicarbonates.Only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, while 97% is saline water. The composition of seawater is 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and 1% other dissolved substances. Seawater contains large amounts of …
Energy
Cotton, being a natural product, is biodegradable. Biodegradation is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means. This means that cotton will decompose whether it is added to a compost pile, bin, or even left to rot naturally. Therefore, cotton has a remarkable advantage over a variety of synthetic materials: We do …
The surface energy of a liquid is the surplus energy possessed by the liquid molecules on the surface compared to those inside the liquid. This indicates that liquid molecules at the surface have greater energy as compared to molecules inside it. The surface energy of materials with adhesives, coatings, and inks applied to them needs …
The adiabatic process is a thermodynamic process in which no heat is exchanged from the system to its surroundings during expansion or compression. Often, adiabatic processes are carried out in an insulated container, where the process is too fast for heat to be transported. A heat engine that compresses a gas enclosed within a cylinder …
Latent heat of the material is a measure of the heat energy (Q) per mass (M) released or absorbed during a phase change (melt, boil, freeze, etc.). A phase change occurs when matter transitions from one state (solid, liquid, gas, or plasma) to another. These changes occur when sufficient energy (latent heat) is provided to …
Elastic potential energy is the energy stored in elastic materials as a result of stretching or compressing. For instance, energy stored in a stretched rubber band, springs, or trampolines in elastic potential energy. Furthermore, elastic potential energy is affected by the relative placement of various components in a system. When a spring is compressed or expanded, …
A heat engine is a device that extracts heat from a source and converts it into mechanical work that may be utilized for a variety of purposes. A steam engine on an old-style railway, for example, can generate the energy required to drive the train. Power plants, internal combustion engines, steam engines, the diesel engine, and …
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, LP Gas, propane gas, or autogas) is a clean-burning alternative fuel that has been used for decades to power propane vehicles, as well as for cooking. LPG is a tri-carbon alkane that is in gaseous form at atmospheric pressure but becomes a liquid at normal temperatures and low pressure. Furthermore, LPG …
The thermal mass of a substance is its ability to absorb, store, and release heat. Different thermal mass materials absorb variable quantities of heat and absorb and re-radiate it for longer (or shorter) periods of time. A brick wall, for example, has more thermal mass than a timber-framed cavity wall, therefore it will absorb more …
The Otto Cycle shows how heat engines generate motion from fuel. This cycle, like other thermodynamic cycles, converts chemical energy into thermal energy and ultimately into motion (work). The Otto cycle outlines how internal combustion engines (gasoline engines, diesel engines, gas-turbine engines) function.In technical terms, The Otto cycle is a set of processes employed by internal …
An aerosol is a tiny solid particle or liquid droplet suspended in the air or another gas. Aerosols may be both natural and man-made. Natural aerosols include fog or mist, dust, sea salt, forest exudates, and geyser steam. On the other hand, pollution from automobiles and industries is a significant man-made source of aerosols. In …
Static electricity is the electrical phenomenon that causes your heirs to rise after rubbing a balloon on them.Before delving into numerous examples of static electricity in our daily lives, we must first understand the scientific meaning of static electricity.In scientific terms, static electricity is a non-moving imbalanced charge. It is the accumulation of an electrical charge on an object’s surface. It represents the extra charge in an electron transfer, which occurs often …
The pressure-volume diagram (abbreviated as the PV diagram) is a graphical depiction of pressure variations with respect to volume in a closed system. P-V diagrams can be used to determine a system’s efficiency and the work done by a system or on the system. The PV diagram is a curve that shows the fluctuation of the …
A solar thermal power plant absorbs and concentrates sunlight to generate the high-temperature heat necessary to generate electricity. In a traditional solar thermal power plant, reflectors (mirrors) capture and focus sunlight onto a receiver. Most solar thermal power systems heat and circulate a heat-transfer fluid in the receiver before using it to produce steam.Steam is …
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been liquefied for transportation and storage.Natural gas is almost entirely made of methane, while it does include trace amounts of other gases such as ethane, propane, butane, and pentane. Methane is made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms in a molecule.Liquefying methane (natural …