Solar Energy
It is easy to overlook the fact that most energy sources on Earth can be traced back to the Sun. Hydroelectric power would not be available without an atmospheric water cycle that creates potential energy by defeating gravity and putting water higher than where it evaporated from originally. Fossil fuel sources like oil, coal, or gas can all be traced back to some life form that used solar energy to grow and thus accumulate carbon in their structure, essentially storing it like a battery. While coal originated from plants, where the connection is obvious, for oil and gas, which originated from higher organisms, it may not be as straightforward. However, following the foodchain down from the biggest reptiles to the smallest critters will always lead us to plants, algae, and their use of solar energy through photosynthesis.
Then, of course, there are those amazing critters, the extremophiles, only recently discovered. They are the first life forms we found that do not seem to be dependent on the sun. Living near vents at the bottom of the ocean, or in deep caves, they feed on chemicals released from earth's crust. But they also don't supply us with any useful energy.
Today we utilize signifficant amounts of energy produced through nuclear fission. One can argue that this technology provides us with a way to produce power independently of the Sun. While this is true, we need to keep in mind that heavy elements like uranium were forged in the cores of other suns.
Sources of power that have more recently been proposed or put in use, such as wind or wave energy, are also made possible by solar heat. Differences in surface temperature cause air to rise, giving birth to wind, which in turn causes waves. Without the sun, the planet would be quitet and motionless.
Or nearly so. Geothermal energy, heat produced by the earth, is independent of the sun, and could be utilized to produce electrical power. If we were to stretch the concept, one could argue that earth itself and all geological activity that it experiences would not be possible without a powerful gravity source like the sun. It is the sun that caused random matter to aggregate and form earth to begin with.
I recently read about a theory that attempts to explain where all the energy inside the earth is coming from. Apparently to this day geologists don't agree over why there is so much activity inside our planet. One of the maverick geophysicists proposes that the core of the earth is composed of uranium, not iron and nickel, as widely accepted today, and essentially functions like a giant nuclear reactor. This path leads us back to uranium and the past suns that produced it.
As to the sun itself, we owe it to gravity, without which the hydrogen would never gather into a ball and without which the mighty fusion reactions we so much depend on would never take place. If only we could find a way to harness gravity directly, we could bypass the intermediaries and go to the source.
Then, of course, there are those amazing critters, the extremophiles, only recently discovered. They are the first life forms we found that do not seem to be dependent on the sun. Living near vents at the bottom of the ocean, or in deep caves, they feed on chemicals released from earth's crust. But they also don't supply us with any useful energy.
Today we utilize signifficant amounts of energy produced through nuclear fission. One can argue that this technology provides us with a way to produce power independently of the Sun. While this is true, we need to keep in mind that heavy elements like uranium were forged in the cores of other suns.
Sources of power that have more recently been proposed or put in use, such as wind or wave energy, are also made possible by solar heat. Differences in surface temperature cause air to rise, giving birth to wind, which in turn causes waves. Without the sun, the planet would be quitet and motionless.
Or nearly so. Geothermal energy, heat produced by the earth, is independent of the sun, and could be utilized to produce electrical power. If we were to stretch the concept, one could argue that earth itself and all geological activity that it experiences would not be possible without a powerful gravity source like the sun. It is the sun that caused random matter to aggregate and form earth to begin with.
I recently read about a theory that attempts to explain where all the energy inside the earth is coming from. Apparently to this day geologists don't agree over why there is so much activity inside our planet. One of the maverick geophysicists proposes that the core of the earth is composed of uranium, not iron and nickel, as widely accepted today, and essentially functions like a giant nuclear reactor. This path leads us back to uranium and the past suns that produced it.
As to the sun itself, we owe it to gravity, without which the hydrogen would never gather into a ball and without which the mighty fusion reactions we so much depend on would never take place. If only we could find a way to harness gravity directly, we could bypass the intermediaries and go to the source.
posted by Andrew at
11:43 AM
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