Student Worksheet

Choc Chip Coal Mine - Activity Instructions

In our pursuit of producing energy to power our homes, devices and lots of other aspects of our lives, humans haven’t always had the environment’s best interests in mind. As an investigative journalist, use your sources to lift the lid on energy production practices, and inform the world of your findings.

Humans focus a lot on electrical energy because we require it so frequently in our everyday lives. In Australia, we make most of our electrical energy from coal.

There are many problems associated with the generation of electricity in a coal power plant. One problem is that when coal is combusted it produces a large amount of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide - which is a contributor to climate change. Another problem is that coal power plants are not very energy efficient and on average only 30-40% of the chemical energy in coal is converted to useful energy - the rest is lost as heat in the conversion process.

Coal is also a fossil fuel, meaning that it is formed from 'dead things' over millions and millions of years. It is non-renewable, meaning that we will eventually run out.

Renewable energy is derived from sources that can be replenished within the time of human civilisation. Some of these sources include: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal and biogas. A combination of these sources needs to be part of our energy plan to ensure a sustainable future.

We also need to think about the way in which we use energy. Cutting back on our personal energy use will be an important step also.

Step 1.

Prepare by cleaning and wiping down your work space, and washing your hands.

Step 2.

Before work starts on the mine, you’ll need to survey or map the site. Place two biscuits on the table in front of you. Grab a third biscuit and eat it!

Step 3.

Draw a top down view of the two biscuits on your paper. Focus on drawing the choc chips you can see as accurately as possible. Label them Site A and Site B. Add a forest, creek and other natural features around your two sites.

Step 4.

Record how many pieces of coal you can see on the surface of each site.

Step 5.

Using a toothpick, dig out the choc chips on Site A and place them in a pile. If you can see more 'coal' as you dig, extract these pieces as well. Try not to damage the rest of the biscuit, although this may be difficult.

Step 6.

Record how many pieces of 'coal' you were able to extract in total.

Step 7.

Repeat this process for Site B.

Step 8.

Put your site back together without the coal. Compare it to the map of your site before you started. Do you think the site has survived with minimal environmental impact?

Oh, don’t forget to consume (eat) your coal (choc chips)!

Taking It Further

Once the chocolate has been removed and consumed there is no more chocolate. This is an example of a non-renewable resource. Humans would have no more use for the sites. But how do you think the plants and animals at your site would feel about the mining at the site?

Is it possible to reconstruct the biscuit without the choc chips? Is it still a chocolate chip biscuit?

Once the site is fully mined, what needs to happen to revive the landscape?

On the back of your map, draw or write some suggestions of how to revegetate the site to reverse the mining damage as much as possible.

Choc Chip Coal Mine (home learning)

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