Fossil Fuels

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Fossil Fuels
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What are fossil fuels ?
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• A fuel is any substance used as a source of
  energy, usually heat energy.
• Most of the worlds energy is provided by the
  burning of fossil fuels (????). Fossils fuels
  are natural combustible substances formed
  originally from dead plants and animals.

Fossil Fuel (http//www.enviroliteracy.org/fossil_
fuels.html)
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• The major fossil fuels are
• coal (?),
• petroleum (??) and
• natural gas (???).

• Fossils fuels are non-renewable (?????) energy
  sources. This is because fossil fuels take
  millions of years to form. Once they are used up
  they can never be replaced.

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World Fuel Resources
From the above table, the present world's
estimated oil reserves may be used up in the next
50 to 60 years.
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Coal
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How was coal formed?

• Coal is the plants that grew in swampy areas
  about 300 millions ago. The plant grew and died
  to form layers of decaying material. Heat,
  pressure and the action of bacteria changed the
  decaying plants into coal.

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How is coal used?

• Today, about 70 of the total coal mined is
  burned in power station.

Coal Education (http//www.coaleducation.org/)
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Petroleum
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1. How was petroleum formed?

• Petroleum was formed from small sea animals and
  plants that lived millions of years ago. After
  they died, heat pressure and the action of
  bacteria changed the remains into oil. The oil
  formed was then trapped as small drops inside the
  pores of rocks.

Petroleum (http//www.petroleum.co.uk/)
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How is petroleum used?

• The thick crude oil that comes from the ground is
  a complex mixture of compounds. It is necessary
  to separate the compounds. (We will discuss this
  method which is used to separate crude oil in the
  section 5.2) The separated substances have two
  main uses
• as sources of useful fuels. e.g. petrol
• as raw materials to make other products. e.g.
  plastics, detergents.

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Natural Gas
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• Natural gas is found together with oil and
  sometimes with coal.
• The gas consists mainly of methane CH4.

Natural Gas (http//www.naturalgas.org/)
Source www.naturalgas.org
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• In some countries, the gas is carried by pipes to
  homes and factories for heating and cooking.