Fossil Fuels

What are the environmental hazards of using these two fuel sources?

The need for fossil fuels continues to grow as people in the developed world use more, and more people in the developing world want them.

Why are there different grades of coal? What is different about them?

Bituminous coal forms at lower temperatures. It contains a lot of sulfur. When it is burned, it causes a lot of pollution. Anthracite coal forms under higher temperatures. This drives off the sulfur, and the coal burns more cleanly.

How does coal form?

Coal forms from dead plants that settled at the bottom of swamps millions of years ago.

How does burning coal make usable energy?

Coal is relatively inexpensive and abundant. Developing nations, like China, rely heavily on coal. Around the world, coal is the largest source of energy for electricity.

Where did the energy in a fossil fuel come from originally?

Coal or other fuels are burned in a power plant. This powers a generator and creates electricity. So the car is probably running on fossil fuels.

How does crude oil form?

Crude oil is a mixture of many different hydrocarbons. Oil is separated into different compounds at an oil refinery. This is done by heating the oil. Each hydrocarbon compound in crude oil boils at a different temperature.

What is fracking, and how does it work?

Fracking is the extraction of natural gas through hydraulic fracturing pumps water at high pressure to break rocks to release natural gas.

What are some problems with fracking fluids?

Fracking may be linked to groundwater contamination and small earthquakes in non-seismic regions.

Why are coal, petroleum, and natural gas called fossil fuels?

Hydrocarbons can be solid, liquid, or gas. The solid form is coal. The liquid form is petroleum, or crude oil. The gaseous form is natural gas.

Why is natural gas considered more environmentally sound than other fossil fuels?

Natural gas burns more cleanly than petroleum and produces fewer greenhouse gases.

What are oil shales? How is oil extracted from them?

Oil shales and tar sands are two of the alternative sources of fossil fuels that are much in the news.

How is natural gas different from crude oil?

One difference between natural gas and oil is that natural gas forms at higher temperatures.

Besides powering your car, what is petroleum used for?

Petroleum is a liquid fossil fuel. Petroleum is useful for vehicles because it is easily stored and transported.

What makes petroleum unique among fossil fuels? Why is this unique property extremely important?

Petroleum is a liquid fossil fuel. Petroleum is useful for vehicles because it is easily stored and transported.

What are tar sands? How is oil extracted from them?

Tar sands are rocky materials mixed with very thick oil. The tar is too thick to pump, and so tar sands are strip-mined. Hot water and caustic soda are used to separate the oil from the rock.

How do fossil fuels form?

The solar energy stored in fossil fuels is a rich source of energy. But because they take so long to form, they are nonrenewable.

There are swamps today. Why is coal not considered a renewable resource?

Water and mud in the swamp kept oxygen away from the plant material. Sand and clay settled on top of the decaying plants. The weight of this material squeezed out the water and some other substances. Over time, the organic material became a carbon-rich rock. This rock is coal.