A guide to the energy of the Earth

地球能量指南

来源视频

Energy is all around us,

a physical quantity that follows precise natural laws.

Our universe has a finite amount of it;

it's neither created nor destroyed

but can take different forms,

such as kinetic or potential energy,

with different properties and formulas to remember.

For instance,

an LED desk lamp's 6 Watt bulb

transfers 6 Joules of light energy per second.

我们周围充满了能量，

一种严格遵循自然规律的物理质量。

宇宙中的能量是有限的；

能量不会产生也不会毁灭，

但能以不同形式存在，

如动能和势能，

有不同的性质和公式要记。

比如，

一个LED（发光二极管）灯的6瓦灯泡

每秒转移6焦耳的光能。

But let's jump back up into space

to look at our planet, its systems, and their energy flow.

Earth's physical systems include

the atmosphere, hydrosphere,

lithosphere, and biosphere.

Energy moves in and out of these systems,

and during any energy transfer between them,

some is lost to the surroundings,

as heat, light, sound,

vibration, or movement.

但让我们回到宇宙空间

看一看我们的星球，它的系统，及其能量流。

地球的物理系统包括

大气层，

水圈

岩石圈，

和生物圈。

能量在这些系统之间出入流动，

能量在它们之间转换的时候，

有些在周围事物间流失了，

比如热、光、声、震动，或运动。

Our planet's energy comes from internal and external sources.

Geothermal energy from radioactive isotopes

and rotational energy from the spinning of the Earth

are internal sources of energy,

while the Sun is the major external source,

driving certain systems, like our weather and climate.

我们星球的能量来自于

内部和外部的能源；

地热能来自于放射性同位素

以及地球自转时产生的旋转能，

这些是内部能源。

而太阳则是最主要的外部能源，

影响了一些如

天气和气候的系统。

Sunlight warms the surface and atmosphere in varying amounts,

and this causes convection,

producing winds and influencing ocean currents.

Infrared radiation, radiating out from the warmed surface of the Earth,

gets trapped by greenhouse gases and further affects the energy flow.

阳光不同程度地

温暖着表面与大气层，

这就引起了对流，

引起了风并影响了海洋气流。

红外线辐射，从地球温暖的表面

散发出来

被温室气体笼罩住

从而进一步影响能量流动。

The Sun is also the major source of energy for organisms.

Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria

use sunlight to produce organic matter

from carbon dioxide and water,

powering the biosphere's food chains.

太阳也是一个主要的能源

对于有机体而言。

植物、海藻类，和蓝细菌

用阳光从二氧化碳和水中

产生有机物质，

为生物圈的食物链提供能量。

We release this food energy using chemical reactions,

like combustion and respiration.

At each level in a food chain, some energy is stored

in newly made chemical structures,

but most is lost to the surroundings,

as heat, like your body heat,

released by your digestion of food.

我们由化学反应

释放食物中的能量，

比如氧化和呼吸。

在食物链的每一层，

一些能量都被储存于

新产生的化学结构中，

但大部分能量都流失在周遭了，

一些成为热量，如你身体散发的热量，

在你身体消化食物的时候被释放出来。

Now, as plants are eaten by primary consumers,

only about 10% of their total energy is passed on to the next level.

Since energy can only flow in one direction in a food chain,

from producers on to consumers and decomposers,

an organism that eats lower on the food chain,

is more efficient than one higher up.

当植物被主要消费者吃掉的时候，

全部能量中只有大概10%

被传输到下一层。

由于在食物链里

能量只向一个方向流动，

从生产者到消费者再到分解者，

吃食物链中比之低级的生物，

比高层的效率更高。

So eating producers is the most efficient level

at which an animal can get its energy,

but without continual input of energy to those producers,

mostly from sunlight,

life on Earth as we know it would cease to exist.

所以动物得到能量的方式中，

吃生产者是效率最高的。

但如果生产者

不能持续得到能量供应，

主要是从阳光中，

我们所知的地球生命

将不复存在。

We humans, of course, spend our energy doing a lot of things besides eating.

We travel, we build, we power all sorts of technology.

To do all this,

we use sources like fossil fuels:

coal, oil, and natural gas,

which contain energy

that plants captured from sunlight long ago

and stored in the form of carbon.

我们人类用我们的能量

做许多吃东西以外的事情。

我们旅行，我们做东西，我们发明各种科技。

为了做这些事，

我们使用矿物燃料：

煤炭、石油，和天然气，

这些都含有能量

是常年从阳光中

所吸取的能量

并以碳的形式保存着。

When we burn fossil fuels in power plants,

we release this stored energy

to generate electricity.

To generate electricity,

heat from burning fossil fuels is used to power turbines

that rotate magnets,

which, in turn, create magnetic field changes

relative to a coil of wire,

causing electrons to be induced to flow in the wire.

当我们在动力厂燃烧矿物燃料时，

我们就释放出这些保存的能量

用来发电。

在发电过程中，

燃烧矿物燃料产生的热量

用来给涡轮发电

涡轮旋转磁铁，

这样就产生了相对于线圈的

磁场变化，

于是在电线里产生电子。

Modern civilization depends on our ability

to keep powering that flow of electrons.

Fortunately, we aren't limited to burning non-renewable fossil fuels

to generate electricity.

Electrons can also be induced to flow

by direct interaction with light particles,

which is how a solar cell operates.

Other renewable energy sources,

such as wind, water,

geothermal, and biofuels

can also be used to generate electricity.

现代文明依赖于我们

持续为供电提供能量。

幸运的是，我们并不局限于

燃烧不可再生的矿物燃料

来发电。

电子也可以被促使流动

当直接与光子接触当时候，

这也是太阳能电池的操作原理。

其他的可再生能量资源，

比如风能、水能、地热能，和生物燃料

都可以用来发电。

Global demand for energy is increasing,

but the planet has limited energy resources

to access through a complex energy infrastructure.

As populations rise,

alongside rates of industrialization and development,

our energy decisions grow more and more important.

Access to energy impacts health, education,

political power, and socioeconomic status.

If we improve our energy efficiency,

we can use our natural resources more responsibly

and improve quality of life for everyone.

地球对能源对要求在增长，

但地球上只有有限的资源

是可通过复杂的资源结构得到的。

当人口在增长，

工业的发展也在随之增长，

我们对于能源的决定也变的越发重要。

得到能源

影响着健康、教育、政权，和社会经济的处境。

如果我们能提高能源效率，

我们就能更可靠的使用天然资源

并提高每个人的生活质量。