1. Methane from Biomass
Methane makes up 85% of the natural gas extracted from the ground.
In the presence of water and absence of oxygen, organic material will ferment naturally.
Such organic materials include:
Crops
Agricultural waste (animal or vegetable)
Waste from lumber mills
waste from breweries
Algae
Sludge from sewage treatment plants
Municipal waste
Fermentation by bacteria in the absence of oxygen is called anaerobic fermentation

2. Methane from Biomass Same heating value as natural gas
High conversion efficiency(50-70% of the useful energy is converted)
High cost
Useful in systems that can generate their own power - for example sewage plants

3. Biodiesel
Diesel fuel made from vegetable oil, recycled cooking grease or oil and animal fat
Used as a fuel additive, designate the same way we designate ethanol fuels-i.e B# where # is the amount of biodiesel in the diesel fuel.
B20 widely used in trucks and school buses

4. Nuclear Energy Nuclear Fission - the splitting of two atoms
Nuclear fusion – the combining of 2 atoms
Both process release energy

5. Atomic structure
Atoms are composed of protons , neutrons and electrons – discovered in the 1930’s
Protons – positively charged
q= ×10−19 C
m= × kg
Neutrons – no charge
m= x kg
Electron –negative charge
q =− ×10−19 C
m= ×10-31 kg

6. Atomic structure Protons and neutrons make up the nucleus
Electrons orbit the nucleus at specific distances known as energy levels
Atomic number = number of protons=Z
Atomic mass number = A = Z+ N, where N is the number of neutrons
Atomic mass = total mass the electrons, protons and neutrons
Atomic weight = the ratio of the average mass of an atoms 1/12 of the mass of an atom of carbon-12.
Ion –if an atom loses or gains an electron and has a net charge
Isotope-atom has the same number of protons but different number of neutrons

7. Atomic Structure Atoms are held together by forces
There are four forces in nature
Gravity -force between masses
Electrostatic forces-like charges repel unlike charges attract
Strong nuclear force - causes an attraction between protons and neutrons
Weak nuclear force – causes protons to transform into neutrons and neutrons in to protons

8. Atomic Structure
In atoms, the electrostatic force is holding the electrons to the nucleus, since the electrons are negatively charged and the protons are positively charged.
The protons in the nucleus are being pushed apart by the electrostatic force since they have the same charge, but the strong nuclear force overcomes this repulsion on the atomic size scales and holds the protons together.

9. Fission
In the late 1930s, it was discovered that if a uranium nucleus was bombarded by neutrons, it absorbed the neutron and became an unstable isotope of uranium, which then spilt into 2 separate atoms (Krypton and Barium) and emitted more neutrons and gamma rays

10. Is mass conserved?
Now the mass of the fission products plus the excess neutron should equal the mass of the initial incident neutron and the uranium. But it doesn’t.
Where did the mass go?
Well, remember E = mc2 - mass cannot be created or destroyed, only converted to and from energy, so the missing mass must be converted into energy.

11. How much energy 200 MeV is released per fission event
The fission of 1 g of uranium or plutonium per day liberates about 1 MW.
This is the energy equivalent of 3 tons of coal or about 600 gallons of fuel oil per day
No CO2 emissions!
Vastly superior in terms of energy per amount of fuel

12. Self sustaining or chain reaction
The fission reaction itself releases neutrons, these can be used to fission additional nuclei, so the elements are there for a sustained or chain reaction.
Tremendous power capability made this an ideal weapon.