Image description
The image shows a geothermal power plant, which produces electricity by converting thermal energy or heat, initially obtained from hot springs caused by high pressure and heat inside the Earth’s mantle, causing them to burst through the cracks of the earth’s crust. on top.
Similar to the other power plants, especially the thermal power plants, are the basic components, namely the electric generator driven by the steam turbine, a heat engine.
Groundwater, from the lower layers of the earth, is overheated by certain hot spots of the cracks in the crust above the Earth’s mantle.
The earth is represented at the bottom, by a rectangle elongated horizontally, filled with grid texture.
The fissure through which the viscous and very hot magma exits towards the earth’s crust above is rendered by a flattened circle, elongated horizontally and filled with a wavy texture, located at the base of the earth, lower left.
The pressurized water gushes to the surface in the form of geysers or remains at a small depth below the ground, so that it can allow access to it through an installation of a geothermal plant that uses this underground hot water tank.
The groundwater tank heated by the extremely high temperature of the magma below is located in the center left of the underground, rendered as a blank horizontal rectangle, with the right end rounded and narrowed.
The accumulated steam under pressure sets in motion the low, medium and high pressure turbines, which are connected to a generator that transforms their mechanical energy into electric current, which it further distributed to the electric substations by the power lines.
This steam is created by cooling the water instantly, the very hot groundwater tank being combined with the cold water that is transported by a condenser through the cooling tower above the hot groundwater tank.
The condenser is shown in the center right, above the ground, marked by a blank square, half filled with dotted texture.
The cooled water is represented by a dotted texture and flows downwards through a condenser pipe, top right, to the hot groundwater tank on the bottom left.
The steam is highlighted by an arrow pointing upwards from the tank, representing the water vapor that rises to the surface, flows through underground and surface pipes, from the underground tank to the turbine of the aerial geothermal power plant, being pushed by a pump.
The turbine is shown at the top center, marked by a blank square with a dome above it, in the center of which is a thickened dot with four concentrically arranged lines.
It is connected to the electric generator in the upper right edge, rendered by an embossed horizontal rectangle.
General information
Our planet is like a living organism. It resulted some time ago, then it went through different stages of development and probably once it will end.
Geology is the science that studies the structure of the Earth and the phenomena that take place inside our planet.
The earth has an almost spherical shape, but it’s bulging at the equator, and flattened at the poles. The equator is the line that surrounds the entire earthly globe and divides it into the two hemispheres, the northern and southern. The hemispheres are the equal halves of the spheres. The poles are the extremities of the hemispheres.
Earth is made up of several concentric layers, i.e. layers that have the same shape and surround other layers. We will list the layers of the Earth, from the inside, outwards:
- Nucleus or core, which is in the center of the Earth, like a pit;
- mantle, that is, the layer surrounding the nucleus;
- Earth’s crust, the outer layer of the earth on which we walk and the one that surrounds the mantle.
Our planet has its own heat, which is mostly due to the nuclear reactions that take place in the Earth’s core. This heat is transmitted to the mantle and, in some areas where the earth’s crust is thinner, reaches the surface in different forms of volcanism. Volcanism represents the totality of phenomena related to the ascent of magma to the earth’s surface. Magma or lava is the molten, hot matter that comes from the mantle of the Earth. It reaches the surface during volcanic eruptions.
One of the products of volcanism is hot water springs, also called geysers. They represent an alternative energy resource, called geothermal energy. Where there are such hot water gushing, geothermal power plants are built with the help of which electricity is obtained. Also, geothermal energy can be used for heating homes.
In short, a geothermal power plant produces electricity using steam coming out to the surface of the earth, in areas where there are hot springs. For the most part, a geothermal power plant is based on the same operating principle as a thermal power plant. Steam works turbines, and turbines operate electric generators.
Did you know that Iceland is called the land of fire, but also the ice country at the same time? Here we can meet many glaciers and large amounts of snow, but also active volcanoes and most hot springs in Europe. Almost half of Iceland’s territory is of volcanic origin.
Thermal water springs are known for their beneficial effects on health. Such thermal waters with healing properties can also be found in our country in several places, among which we remember Baile Tusnad, Baile Herculane, Baile Felix and Geoagiu-Bai.
Bibliography
- https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izvor_termal
- https://webstarsnet.com/ro/100-geothermal-energy-and-geothermal-power-plants.html
- https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanism
- https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straturile_P%C4%83m%C3%A2ntului#Nucleul_P%C4%83m%C3%A2ntului
- https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuator
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