Fossil%20Fuel%20Formation

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Fossil Fuel Formation

• How did fossil fuels form?

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Fossil Fuels

• three major forms of fossil fuels coal, oil and
  natural gas.
• all formed 360 to 286 million years ago
• most before the time of the dinosaurs
• the land was covered with swamps filled with huge
  trees, ferns and other large leafy plants
• the water and seas were filled with algae - the
  green stuff that forms on a stagnant pool of
  water. (Algae is actually millions of very small
  plants.)

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COAL

• formed from the remains of vegetation
• most of our coal was formed about 300 million
  years ago, when much of the earth was covered by
  steamy swamps
• as plants and trees died, their remains sank to
  the bottom of the swampy areas, accumulating
  layer upon layer and eventually forming a soggy,
  dense material called peat
• most important element in the plant material is
  carbon, which gives coal most of its energy

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COAL
Dont confuse coal and charcoal!
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new material depositing sediment forms a layer
that cannot be
penetrated, called cap rock
gas
oil
gas, oil, and water
Earth movements cause folds in Earths crust
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Cross section of porous sandstone. The dark
shading indicates the spaces that contain oil.
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OIL

• also formed more than 300 million years ago
• scientists believe that tiny diatoms are the
  source of oil
• diatoms are sea creatures the size of a pin head
• like plants they convert sunlight directly into
  stored energy
• as the diatoms died they fell to the sea floor
  and were buried under sediment and other rock
• the rock squeezed the diatoms and the energy in
  their bodies could not escape
• the carbon eventually turned into oil under great
  pressure and heat

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• About three-quarters (3/4) of the oil used in the
  United States comes from outside the Persian Gulf
  in the Middle East. That's due to large North
  American producers like the U.S. itself, Canada
  and Mexico. The U.S. is among the world's leaders
  in oil production.
• Almost 40 of the oil we consume is produced here
  at home, primarily in Texas, Alaska, California,
  Louisiana, and Oklahoma

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Natural Gas

• most scientists believe that natural gas was
  formed from the remains of tiny sea animals and
  plants that died 200-400 million years ago
• main ingredient is methane, a natural compound
  that is formed whenever plant and animal matter
  decays
• after a long period of time concentrations of
  natural gas became trapped in the rock layers
  much like a wet household sponge traps water

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Natural Gas

• don't confuse natural gas with "gasoline," which
  we call "gas" for short.

Natural Gas comes from pockets of gas deep in the
Earth
Gas is a petroleum product and comes from oil
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Natural Gas Use
Pipeline Fuel 2.6
Oil Gas industry operations 4.9
Vehicle fuel 0.1
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Saving Fossil Fuels

• Fossil fuels take millions of years to make. We
  are using up the fuels that were made more than
  300 million years ago before the time of the
  dinosaurs. Once they are gone they are gone.
• So, it's best to not waste fossil fuels. They are
  not renewable they can't really be made again.
  We can save fossil fuels by conserving energy.

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What did you learn?

• Which one of these is NOT a fossil fuel?
• A. natural gas
• B. coal
• C. oil
• D. charcoal

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• How was most of our fossil fuel formed?
• from dead dinosaurs
• from dead plants and animals
• from oil wells
• from sedimentary rock

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• Why are oil, coal, and natural gas called
  Nonrenewable fuels.
• A. because they are hard to find
• B. because people dont use them
• C. because it takes millions of years to make
  more
• D. because they are buried underground