AP®︎ Environmental Science: Topic 6.3 Flashcards

Direct fuels are burned with little processing; processed fuels are manufactured or separated from raw resources for specialized uses

Recently living biomass used as firewood or charcoal, especially for cooking and heating where wood is locally accessible

Wood burned directly for cooking or heating, especially where it can be collected locally

Carbon-rich fuel made by heating wood with little oxygen; it is compact and burns hotter with less smoke than wood

Partially decomposed organic material from waterlogged environments that can be dried and burned as a low-quality fuel

Carbon-rich fossil fuel formed when buried ancient plant material undergoes heat and pressure over millions of years

The progression from peat, a coal precursor, through lignite and bituminous coal to anthracite; carbon and energy content increase while moisture decreases

Lowest-grade coal; soft and brownish, with high moisture and relatively low carbon and energy content

Intermediate-to-high-grade coal with less moisture and more carbon and energy than lignite, widely used for electricity and industrial heat

Highest-grade coal; hard, dense, and highest in carbon and energy content among the three coal types

Fossil fuel composed mostly of methane; the cleanest-burning fossil fuel and used for heating, cooking, electricity, and industry

Raw liquid fossil fuel composed of mixed hydrocarbons and refined into specialized fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel

Energy-dense liquid fuel refined from petroleum and used mainly in spark-ignition motor vehicles

Petroleum fuel used in diesel automobiles, trucks, buses, heavy equipment, ships, and generators

Kerosene-range petroleum fuel used in aircraft turbine engines

Liquid petroleum fuel used in boilers and furnaces for heating

Liquefied petroleum fuels such as propane, used for cooking, heating, and some vehicles

An unconventional petroleum resource consisting of clay, sand, water, and bitumen from which petroleum products can be produced

Heavy, viscous hydrocarbon mixture in tar sands that must be separated and processed or diluted

Using one fuel source to produce both electricity and useful heat by recovering thermal energy that would otherwise be wasted