Know Your Energy Costs Activity Source: National Energy Education Development Project. Adapted with permission. It takes energy to run the appliances and machines we use everyday. The national average commercial cost to use this energy is $0.10/kilowatt hour. In addition to the financial cost, there is also an environmental cost in the form of carbon emissions. The general rule of thumb is that every kilowatt- hour of electricity produces 1.6 pounds of carbon dioxide. [Read More]

Map-Making Basics Activity Source: U.S. Geological Survey, 2006. Adapted with permission. Background Maps are two-dimensional ways of representing information about the natural and built world from a “top-down” perspective. You are probably familiar with road maps that show where roads go and which roads intersect with others and where. You also may have seen weather maps, which show weather patterns across a specific geographic area, or political maps, which show where borders are for countries and areas within those countries. [Read More]

Model of a Well Activity Source: Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network, School of Natural Resources, by Marianne Bonnemier Background Groundwater is contained in the zone of saturation below the land surface. The top of this zone is known as the water table. People can tap into this source of water by drilling wells. The depth of the well and level of the water table greatly influences the wells productivity. Objective Demonstrate the relationship of groundwater to wells. [Read More]

Modeling an Oil Reserve Activity Source: Adapted with permission by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists from AGI’s Earth System Science in the Community (EarthComm), 2005. Background Since 1970, oil and natural gas have provided more than half of the energy used each year in the United States to produce electricity, heat, transportation fuels, and many everyday products from balloons to vitamins. Oil and natural gas are forms of petroleum, a word that literally means “oily rock. [Read More]

Modeling Oil and Gas Reservoirs Activity Source: Adapted with permission by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists from AGI’s EarthComm, Earth’s Natural Resources, pp. R65-R66. This activity will help you to understand some of the factors that petroleum geologists need to consider when deciding where to recommend drilling for oil. Since people use petroleum products for energy and as source materials for petrochemicals, it is important as citizen scientists to understand the science and technology behind the search for oil and natural gas. [Read More]

Natural Gas Formation Activity Source: Adapted by AAPG from the American Geosciences Institute. Adapted with permission. Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is an energy resource used for generating electricity and heating, powering transportation, and manufacturing products. Right now, one-quarter of the world’s energy comes from natural gas. Natural gas formation, one of the processes occurring on our ever-changing Earth, takes a very long time. Natural gas is formed from marine organisms that die, sink to the bottom of the ocean, and get covered with sediments. [Read More]

Oil Trap Model Activity Source: Geological Society of America. Adapted with permission. Crude oil is a liquid hydrocarbon that is thought to have formed from the accumulation and burial of mostly marine organisms in a low-oxygen environment. This environment prevents decay of the organisms, trapping the organic matter and converting it to hydrocarbons. Because oil is a liquid that is lighter than water, it naturally rises through the pores of rocks in which it forms towards the surface. [Read More]

Places on the Planet: Latitude and Longitude Activity Source: Geological Society of America, 2006. Adapted with permission. Background You may have seen or used Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in cars or on camping trips. These devices use data from satellites orbiting the Earth to locate places on our planet. GPS devices describe the locations to us in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates. Citizen scientists involved in the Geological Society of America’s EarthCaching project (http://www. [Read More]

Products from Petroleum Activity Source: Society of Petroleum Engineers. Adapted with permission. Where would we be without petroleum? You can kiss lipstick goodbye! Not only does petroleum provide fuel to run our vehicles, cook our food, heat our homes, and generate electricity, it is also used in plastics, medicines, food items, and countless other products, from aspirin to umbrellas and, yes — lipstick! We use many oil products as synthetic alternatives to natural materials, including synthetic rubber instead of natural rubber, and detergent instead of soap. [Read More]

Products Made from Petroleum Activity Source: Adapted with permission by Bruce Wells, American Oil & Gas Historical Society. Background Most people associate petroleum with transportation — but we are surrounded by thousands of other everyday products that come from this vital natural resource. A typical 42- gallon barrel of crude oil yields about 20 gallons of gasoline and 4 gallons of jet fuel. What products come from the other 18 gallons? [Read More]