6 The churning waters of the world's oceans can be harnessed to generate electricity
bright yellow posts This device will make electricity from the ocean’s waves The device is called Azura The electricity it generates will run along undersea cables to reach homes A company called Northwest Energy Innovations developed Azura Over the next year scientists plan to gather information from the device The US Navy and the US Department of Energy are also working on the project They hope it will help them Earth’s Ocean Earth’s large body of water is known as the global ocean That ocean is split into five areas People today know them as the Atlantic Pacific Indian Arctic and Southern oceans All these areas have much left to explore Scientists believe hundreds of thousands of ocean species have not yet been discovered Twelve people have walked on the moon but as of 2016 only three humans had traveled to the deepest part of the ocean This place is known as Challenger Deep It is located in the western Pacific Ocean It is approximately 36,070 feet 10,994 m deep 7
develop more technology to capture the power of ocean waves Soon Azura is in place Its two posts bob upright in the water Within just one month scientists report exciting news Azura has become the first wave energy device in the United States to supply electricity to a power grid Ocean Energy The ocean covers approximately 71 percent of Earth’s surface It holds 97 percent of Earth’s water It also holds incredible power The ocean’s waves currents temperature and salinity are all sources of energy Ocean energy technology turns these sources of energy into electricity Scientists and engineers are closely studying how ocean energy might help power our future This type of energy is also called marine energy Ocean energy is renewable This means it will never run out Other renewable energy sources include sunlight wind and river water They are seen 8
The Moon the Sun and the Tides The gravitational pull of the moon and the sun are responsible for creating Earth’s tides Though the sun is larger than the moon its great distance from Earth means that it exerts only half the moon’s tidal influence This diagram shows how the positions of the moon and sun affect the height of tides When they are on the same side of Earth the highest tides are created Why might this be 9
