Fossil Fuels

How is fuel converted into electricity?

1. Fuel is burned in the furnace, which releases thermal energy. 2. This energy is used to boil water, which makes steam. 3. The mechanical energy of the moving steam turns the blades of a turbine. 4. The turbine turns the shaft of the generator, which consists of powerful magnets surrounded by copper wire, as the magnets turn inside the wire coil, an electric current is produced 5. This current flows through power lines to homes and industries

coal

Coal is a solid fossil fuel formed by plant remains. The huge energy needs of growing industries make it worthwhile to find, mine, and transport coal. Coal makes up about 23% of the fuel used in the USA today. most of that coal fuels electrical power plants. Coal as to mined, or removed from the ground, before it can be used to produce energy. Miners use machines to chop the coal into chunks and lift it to the surface. Modern safety procedures and better equipment have made coal mining safer. Coal is the most plentiful fossil fuel in the USA.

US electricity production by energy source

Coal=59.3% Other=0.1% Petroleum=2.2% Hydroelectric=9.2% Natural Gas=9.3% Nuclear=19.9%

How are hydrocarbons created?

During combustion, the carbon and hydrogen atoms combine with oxygen from the air to form carbon dioxide and water.

Are fossil fuels considered renewable or nonrenewable resources?

Fossil fuels are considered nonrenewable resources because they take hundreds of millions of years to form. Earth's known oil reserves took 500 million years to form. One fourth of this oil has already been used. If fossil fuels continue to be used more rapidly than they are formed, the reserves will eventually be used up.

How do fuels provide energy?

Fuels contain stored chemical energy that is released by combustion, or burning. The chemical energy that is released can be used to generate another form of energy, such as heat, light, motion, or electricity.

distribution of fossil fuel reserves

Many nations that consume large amounts of fossil fuels have very small reserves. They have to buy oil natural gas, and coal from nations with large supplies. The USA, for example uses about one third of all the oil produced in the world. But only 3% of the world's oil supply is located in the USA. The difference must be purchased from countries with large oil supplies. The uneven distribution of fossil fuel reserves has often been a cause of political problems in the world.

oil production

More than 350 degrees Celsius is Asphalt. 275-325 degrees Celsius is grease and wax. 175-250 degrees Celsius is diesel fuel. 175-200 degrees Celsius is heating oil. 125-175 degrees Celsius is jet fuel. 40-75 degrees Celsius is gasoline. Less than 20 degrees Celsius is other gases.

natural gas

Natural gas is a mixture of methane and other gases. Natural gas forms from some of the same organisms as soil. It is less dense than oil, so it often rises above an oil deposit, forming a pocket of gas in the rock. Natural gas is transported from its source to the places where it is used in pipelines. If all of the gas pipelines in the USA were connected, they would reach to the moon and back twice. Natural gas has no odor at all. Gas companies add a distinct smell to the gas before it's piped into homes and businesses so that people can detect a gas leak.

oil

Oil is thick, black, liquid fossil fuel. It formed from the remains of small animals, algae, and other organisms that lived in cans and shallow inland seas hundreds of millions of years ago. Oil accounts for more than one third of the energy produced in the world. Most oil deposits are located underground in tiny holes in sandstone or limestone. The oil fills the holes somewhat like water fills the holes of a sponge. Scientists use sound waves to test an area for oil. Crude oil is oil when it's first pumped out of the ground. Crude is refined in order to make it usable.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of oil?

The advantage of oil is: it provides fuel for most cars, airplanes, trains, and ships, it can be used to heat homes, it can be made into many other important products, and coal provides a lot of energy. The disadvantages of oil are finding oil is difficult, drilling for oil is expensive, oil is usually located deep underground, and only one out of every six wells drilled produces a usable amount of oil.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of coal?

The advantages of coal are: coal is easy to transport, it provides a lot of energy when it's burned, and it's the most plentiful fossil fuel in the US. Disadvantages of coal are that mining coal is very dangerous for workers and can cause lung diseases and injure and kill workers, coal mining can increase erosion, runoff from coal mines can cause water pollution, and burning most types of coal results in more air pollution than other fossil fuels.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of natural gas?

The advantages of natural gas are: it produces large amounts of energy, it gives off lower levels of many air pollutants than coal and oil, it can be compressed into a liquid and stored in tanks as fuel for trucks and buses, and it's easy to transport once the network of pipelines is built. A disadvantage of natural is that it's highly flammable and a gas leak could cause a violent explosion and fire.

How much more energy does the combustion of fossil fuels provide than the combustion of any other fuels.

The combustion of fossil fuels provides more energy per kilogram than does the combustion of other fuels. For example, one kilogram of coal can provide twice as much energy as one kilogram of wood. Oil and natural gas can provide three times as much energy as an equal mass of wood.

How are fossil fuels created?

The remains of organisms that lived millions of years ago have piled up. Layers of sand, rock, and mud buried the dead organisms. Over time, heat and the pressure of sediments changed the material into other substances.

What is an example of a fuel being burned to release energy?

When a the gasoline in a car's engine is burned, it undergoes a chemical change. Some of the chemical energy stored in the gasoline is converted into thermal energy. This thermal energy is then converted to mechanical energy that moves the car.

coal formation

When swamp plants die, their decomposing remains build up. Over time, plant remains pile up and form peat. Peat can be burned as fuel. Under increasing pressure from sediments, peat is compacted. Eventually, peat becomes coal. Coal is a more efficient fuel than peat.

energy transformation

a change from one form of energy to another, also called an energy conversion

refinery

a factory in which crude oil is heated and separated into fuels and other products

fuel

a substance that provides energy-such as heat, light, motion, or electricity-as a result of a chemical change

petroleum

another name for oil, form the Latin words petra (rock) and oleum (oil)

combustion

burning

hydrocarbons

chemical compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen atoms

What are the three major fossil fuels used around the world?

coal, oil, and natural gas

petrochemicals

compounds that are made from oil, used to make plastics, paints, medicines, and cosmetics

fossil fuels

the energy-rich substances formed from the remains of organisms that are made out of hydrocarbons