The world is power-driven by the chemical energy that is released with different reactions. As a human your body, utilize chemical energy that is released with Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) conversion into Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP).
Vehicles are power-driven by fuels that obtain chemical energy that is released via combustion reactions. Furthermore, several power plants have been remained running with the process of coal burning such as fuels that lead to electricity generation. Ever since before, every energy source utilized by humans has had the origin of chemical energy.
Defining Chemical Energy
Chemical energy is the energy stored within chemical bonds that are being released via exothermic reactions. Since Earth is rich with different forms of chemicals, there people can find several chemical energy sources, which range from crude oil, coal, wood to almost any organic material that is combustible.
Varying on the chemical bonds’ nature, which are broken by the combustion reaction, the quantity of chemical energy that is released through the reaction might differ. However, even it is helpful for the industrial aspects it still has some drawbacks letting you weigh in the pros and cons of chemical energy.
The Pros of Chemical Energy
1. Chemical energy is the most abundant source of energy available. Different chemical energy sources are copiously available worldwide. One of these common sources includes crude oil. Crude oil is produced from the process of chemical conversion occurred from the fossilized remains of dead animals and plants under great pressure exerted by the Earth’s layer. People have a very high dependency on crude oil that the status of all global economies is affected directly by price fluctuations of crude oil. Some other copious sources of chemical energy include wood, coal and other organic materials such as wax.
2. Easy combustibility is another advantage of chemical energy. As compared to other sources of energy, sources of chemical energy are simply combustible, giving instant energy. It only requires the availability of the air and igniting source with sufficient oxygen content.
3. With chemical energy sources, the combustion efficiency is indeed high. This is another great reason why the chemical energy that is released through crude oil combustion is selected over any other sources. Certainly, the combustion’s efficiency is dependent on the oxygen’s availability, and so the system of a car engine holds a huge impact on the achieved efficiency.
The Cons of Chemical Energy
1. Even with several advantages, the use of chemical energy also draws a number of disadvantages. One of the primary disadvantages of using chemical energy is the harmful effect it can draw to the environment. Since chemical energy is derived from organic materials, there is a high risk that the environment will greatly affected by this, particularly because of too much combustion that is required for the production of chemical energy.
2. As it affects the situation of the environment, it will in turn affect the health of humans. With great combustion from chemical energy sources, there comes high amount of pollution, which is never good for one’s health.
In this case, you may factor in the pros and cons of chemical energy and realize its great impact to the whole society.
