Raw Materials, Energy Sources, and Industry Essentials
Raw Materials
Raw materials are found in nature and, through transformation industries, become usable products. There are three types:
- Animal Origin: Materials that come from livestock and are used in the textile industry, for example.
- Vegetal Origin: Products such as cotton, used to make fabrics, or forest products like timber, used for furniture, or rubber, used to manufacture tires.
- Mineral Origin: Raw ore extracted from underground sources. Most cannot be used directly to produce a product.
Types of Mineral Raw Materials
- Metallic Minerals: From which metals are extracted, such as hematite.
- Non-Metallic Minerals: From which other materials are obtained, such as salt and sulfur.
- Mineral Energetics: Used for energy production, like coal, natural gas, uranium, and oil.
Mining
Mining is the set of processes that allows the extraction of minerals found in the subsoil. Mines can be open-air or underground.
Production and Consumption of Minerals
Mineral-intensive industrial countries often have insufficient production. These countries buy minerals in large quantities, nationally or internationally. Minerals often come from industrial countries that have a production surplus, but are extracted in less developed countries.
Sources of Energy
Energy sources are natural resources from which, through a transformation process, it is possible to obtain some form of energy necessary for the operation of industries and transport, and for domestic use. There are two types:
- Renewable Energy Sources: These are inexhaustible, such as the sun, wind, and water.
- Non-Renewable Energy Sources: These are in limited quantities and can be exhausted, such as coal, uranium, natural gas, and oil.
Traditional and Alternative Energy Sources
- Traditional Energy Sources: These are the most used and cover most of a country’s needs, such as oil, natural gas, and hydroelectricity.
- Alternative Energy Sources: These are used less because they are still undergoing research and development, and because their exploitation can be difficult.
Types of Traditional Energy Sources
- Coal: Originates from the decomposition of accumulated vegetables buried for millions of years.
- Oil: An oily, thick, and dark liquid that comes from the decomposition of plant and animal remains buried over millions of years. It can also be a fossil fuel.
- Natural Gas: Used as fuel, for heating, electricity production, or as a raw material in the chemical industry.
- Hydropower: The energy of water stored in reservoirs, used for electricity generation.
- Nuclear Energy: In nuclear power plants, a reactor generates heat necessary to obtain electricity through nuclear fuels.
Alternative Energy Sources
- Solar Energy: Abundant and inexhaustible, but its intensity varies across different areas of the Earth.
- Photovoltaic Energy: Photovoltaic panels convert solar energy into electricity. These panels are built with a special material that, when receiving sunlight, produces electricity.
- Wind Energy: Obtained from the use of wind force to generate electricity. This energy is renewable and does not pollute the atmosphere.
- Geothermal Energy: Utilizes the heat inside the Earth, especially in areas with intense volcanic activity, for electricity production.
- Tidal Energy: Based on harnessing the movement of seawater caused by tides, waves, or currents.
- Bioenergy: Obtained by the combustion of vegetable or animal matter. Wood is an example of this energy and is a common fuel in less developed countries.
Industry
Industry is the set of activities necessary to transform raw materials into products for consumption. Industrial activities transform raw materials into:
- Manufactured Products: e.g., bread, chair.
- Semi-finished Products: Products that are manufactured to be part of the development of other industrial products; e.g., iron bars, rubber.