To pump liquid and sand at high pressure into rock underground to crack it open and release oil or natural gas.
Short for 'hydraulic fracturing,' a technique developed in the 1940s but popularized in the 2000s. The word is a modern technical term created by the petroleum industry to describe the industrial process.
Fracking became a lightning-rod word in the 2010s—it's transformed America's energy independence but sparked intense environmental debates, making it one of the newest words to cause real political division in society.
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