Our planet, Earth, is covered with the thick outer shell called crust, which is made up of
many different rock layers and plates whose components keeps on shifting and changing. Under Earth’s crust, there is a layer of hot and molten rock called magma. Heat is continually produced there, mostly from the decay of naturally radioactive materials such as uranium and potassium.
many different rock layers and plates whose components keeps on shifting and changing. Under Earth’s crust, there is a layer of hot and molten rock called magma. Heat is continually produced there, mostly from the decay of naturally radioactive materials such as uranium and potassium.
The
amount with in the earth’s surface contains 50,000 times more energy
than all the oil and natural gas resources in the world. So, due to
extreme heat inside the earth these rocks start developing cracks and
release energy in the form of water or heat on to the earth’s surface.
To
get that heat, water is pumped down an “injection well”. Then it
filters through the cracks in the rocks where they are at a high
temperature. The water then returns via the “recovery well” under
pressure in the form of steam. That steam is captured and is used to
drive electric generators.
How
much geothermal energy can be useful depends on several factors for eg:
location, how hot the water gets, the rocks inside the earth and amount
of water pumped into the area. If the rocks are not hot enough or cool
down naturally this presents a problem for geothermal power stations.
The
areas with the highest underground temperatures are in regions with
active or geologically young volcanoes and these hot spots occur where
the crust is thin and can let the heat through. The Pacific Rim, often
called the Ring of Fire for its many volcanoes, has many hot spots,
including some in Alaska, California, and Oregon.
Nevada
has hundreds of hot spots, covering much of the northern part of the
state. For this reason geothermal power stations can be found in Italy,
New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, the Philippines and the United States.
These are all areas that contain volcanic rock.
Please
visit geothermal power plant page to know how it harness the energy
beneath the earth and convert it into more powerful energy.
References:
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