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Chemical Energy

The need for efficient functioning of machines even human life demands the use of energy.Of all the forms of energy that humanity has developed in thepast few hundred years of mass production, chemical energy isby far the most commonly used. Whether in the batteries thatpower all of our handheld devices and their chemical reactions,or in the millions of uses we've developed for fossil fuels andtheir numerous chemical reactions, chemical energy is a stapleof our daily lives. Coal is burned for energy throughout theworld, gasoline combusts every day in our vehicles, and naturalgasses are burned for heating energy every night. It's on a very basic level that chemical energy is stored. A chemical compound is composed of very simple collections ofatoms, bound together. When the bond between these atomsloosens, a chemical reaction takes place and new combinationsare created. Very simple reactions, such as the oxidation ofmetals occurs almost constantly. However, when a chemical reaction occurs that is exothermic, inwhich energy is actually released and the chemical compound isreduced, it is possible to harvest that energy for our everydayuse. The very simple processes that we observe every day such asthe warming of the ground when the sun beats down on it are thesame basic concepts that apply to these chemical reactions. Forhumanity to fully harness this chemical energy though, it'snecessary to understand just what happens and how we can makeit happen. Chemical energy is stored in every bond between atoms in amolecule. If a molecule is broken down and reformed into newmolecules, energy is released. This kind of reaction is presentin every chemical compound we see; however it is the yield ofenergy that differs. Food, for example, is chemically brokendown by our bodies and taken apart to obtain energy within ourbodies. After the energy is removed from the food, the newmolecules are separated, energy absorbed for our everyday use,and waste removed. Another example of a simple chemical reaction used to obtainenergy, is in the photosynthetic process a plant undertakes togarner energy from the sun. So much energy is present in thelight of the sun that a plant is able to take it and apply toexisting molecules in its own structure and create new oneswith the presence of carbon dioxide and water.

Chemical energy is the easiest and most efficient energy sourceto store and utilize, if only because it is so readilyavailable, found in nearly everything we use. Chemical energy ,as used by our bodies has been the source of life for billionsof years and the developments in chemical energy technology hasled to long lasting rechargeable batteries and hopefully inrenewable energy resources in the future.

Article Published: Monday 30th April 2007