Question

oil is central to the functioning of todays global economy. yet oil is a nonrenewable resource.
the worlds store of oil will eventually be depleted, forcing a shift to a global economy based
on a different energy source. just how close are we to depleting the worlds available oil?
the table shows the rate of oil production since 1950 in millions of barrels per day. we can use
this as a starting point for estimating how much oil remains.

1. in the early part of this curve, production grows exponentially. this is expected when

producers act independently and seek to maximize their production. later in the curve,
oil production plateaus and grows only slowly.
what is the overall relationship between the year and million barrels per day?
a. positive
b. negative
c. no relationship
d. cannot be determined
the graph shows \hubberts curve.\ this curve represents a theoretical prediction of how
production of a nonrenewable resource should behave through time.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze the graph trend

Looking at the graph of global production of oil since 1950, we can observe that as the year increases, the value of million barrels per day (production) also generally increases. For example, from 1950 (10 million barrels per day) to 1970 (49 million barrels per day) there is a clear upward trend. Even though there are some minor fluctuations (like a small dip around 1982), the overall direction is that as time (year) moves forward, production (million barrels per day) is going up.

Step2: Define relationship types

• A positive relationship means that as one variable (in this case, year) increases, the other variable (million barrels per day) also increases.
• A negative relationship would be when one variable increases and the other decreases.
• No relationship implies that changes in one variable do not affect the other variable in a consistent pattern.

Since the general trend of the graph is that as the year increases, the production (million barrels per day) increases (despite minor fluctuations), it fits the definition of a positive relationship.

Answer:

A. Positive