Industrial Revolution: What Are Fossil Fuels?

The fossil fuels contain high percentage of carbon and include coal, oil, and natural gas, are the major source of energy that power our modern society. Fossil fuel range from low carbon to hydrogen ratio like methane, to liquid petroleum, to almost pure carbon like coal. Petroleum, such as natural gas and crude oil, contains a mix of hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon deposits underneath the earth surface, such as oil and natural gas, is search by petroleum geologist and geophysics, called hydrocarbon exploration and oil exploration.

Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Currently fossil fuels are the world’s primary energy source. The fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gases. Fossil fuels are organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that due to heat and pressure from hundreds of

It has come to conclusion that fossil fuels are organic materials that are buried in combustible geologic deposits of organic materials. These fossil fuels are formed from decayed organic materials, animals and rocks that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust for a very long time. Changing the use of energy can cause effects such as; economic issues and environmental issues. Although, energy is in need of production, many

Most people have a theory that the fossil fuels we have today are from the remains of dead dinosaurs. Which is in fact not true, but what is true is that these fossil fuels were at one time alive. They formed when prehistoric animals and plants died and were covered by rock and other plant growth (energy.gov 2014). Organic matter, along with varying temperatures and pressure worked together to produce the fossil fuels. Different types of fossil fuels were developed depending on how much pressure and what the temperature was involved at the time of the forming of these fossil fuels. (energy.gov 2014). These fossil fuels, what are today known mainly as coal, oil, and natural gas, were the different types of fossil fuels that were developed and which are the ones that are still being used today. According to the U.S. department of energy, oil and natural gas were formed from living things in the ocean, which were then buried under the ocean sediments. Later, the seas and oceans evaporated and they began to compress with heat and pressure under the silt, which is how oil was formed. With that, some of the oil continued to sink underground and kept compressing and causing pressure, which in turn produced natural gas. Coal formed from the dead remains of trees, ferns and other plants that lived 300 to 400 million years ago. In some areas, such as portions of what-is-now the eastern United States, coal was formed from swamps covered by sea water.

Humans have severely depleted them in just over one hundred years, a rate that is 50 million times greater than the rate at which they are formed. The three primary types of fossil fuels are: coal, oil, and natural gas. Coal is a hard, black substance found close to the earth's surface or mined from deep in the ground. There are over two thousand mines in the United States from which more than eight hundred thousand tons of coal are removed each year, supplying approximately 1,566 coal-burning electric power plants. Coal is responsible for providing much of the energy for producing electricity. In fact, there are currently ninety-four new coal-burning power plants that have been proposed, which would power approximately 62 million homes. Oil could be considered a liquid version of coal. It is usually black, but it can also be dark green or even almost clear. Oil is often found underground in spaces directly above coal deposits. Different types of fuels, also called petroleum, are made from oil, which come in different thicknesses. Dissolved gases make up the thinnest oils while asphalt oil is regarded as the

Today, humans rely on variety of energy resources to heat homes, propel transportation vehicles, and produce goods for shelter, food health care, and entertainment. Some of those sources are renewable like biomass and solar energy, and others are non-renewable like fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). as we know most of our electricity comes from fossil fuels which are non-renewable however, burning fossil fuels produce

Fossil energy sources- such as oil, coal, and natural gases are become the major source for the energy which are formed from died prehistoric plants and animals buried in the layers of land over a million of years. But there are lot of impacts on the environment by the use of fossil fuels through combustion resulting in the emission of greenhouse gases. Over the past 20 years three-fourths of human-caused emissions came from the burning of fossil fuels.

In the past nine years there have been major developments in the environmental regulations put forth by the United States government concerning fossil fuels. Petroleum, coal and natural gas have been used as the leading fossil fuels for both transportation and energy production. These fossil fuels are reasonably abundant and easy to extract from the earth; moreover, they are easily transported and combusted for energy. Most of the current infrastructure in place for energy production is designed to burn fossil fuels in order to produce electricity. Burning fossil fuels releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The buildup of carbon dioxide and other gasses from combustion in the atmosphere results in a phenomenon called global warming.

Energy is the building block of any society. Many resources and activities that stimulate a better living to human beings are highly dependent on energy in one way or another. In fact, the modern advancements into different sectors as seen in the contemporary world would be obsolete if it different types of energy were vague. There are numerous sources where energy is harvested, all falling under two major categories, renewable energy and non-renewable energy. Statistics indicate that fossil fuels contribute the vast majority of the global energy, with more than 82% of global energy coming from the fossil fuels (Dogan and Seker 429-439). Fossil fuels incorporate three major components, coal, natural gas, and oil. Historians argue that the fuels have powered the world for more than a century. On the other hand, wind energy falls under the category of renewable energy; this means that the energy can be used without depletion as opposed to the fossil fuels that are extracted and therefore prone to depletion.

In today’s society fossil fuels are the primary source of energy for most of the industrialized world. Utilizing fossil fuels has been very important to the industrialization development throughout the world. Industrialization in many parts of the world, energy has been needed at a much higher density then before and fossil fuels have fulfilled that need. Coal, gas, and oil are the three major sources of fossil fuels in the world. Despite other means of energy such as wind power, hydroelectric power etc., fossil fuels are still the main source of energy across the continent. Fossils fuels are critical to the function of society. “Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are the dominant source of energy today and will be for decades to come.” (Everett, B. October).

To find out what fossil fuels are, we must first know how they were formed. They were at first actual living organisms. “They were formed from prehistoric plants and animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago” (Department of Energy, N.d, p.1). Examples of fossil fuels are oil, coal, and natural gas. All three of these resources are given a term “non-renewable.” This is because once we use all of these resources up, they are gone forever. These non-renewable resources also cannot be replaced in our lifetime. There is only a certain amount of these fossil fuels left in the Earth for us to be able to use.

Fossil fuels are essential to life on earth as we know it today. Our world would certainly be much different if it weren’t for such seemingly simple things such as coal, oil, and natural gas. These basic elements of life on earth may not seem like a major concern to some people until we put into perspective how they have shaped our world today. Civilizations have been built, economies have risen and crumbled, and even wars have been fought over these precious fossil fuels. However, these fossil fuels serve us in ways we may never truly appreciate, as long as we use them as recklessly as we do now. The major entity about fossil fuels is concerning their longevity and permanence in our world, and we all know, they will be around forever.

The first use of any form of fuel was nearly two million years ago thanks to the curiosity of Homo erectus. Since then fuel has become significantly more advanced, starting from ordinary wood to what is now comprised of numerous chemicals and life threatening processes to obtain liquid and gaseous fuels. These fuels are used to warm our homes, generate electricity, and even transport us from one end of the globe the other. The most commonly used fuels are charcoal, natural gases, and LPG. Most of the fuels we use today are problematic for future generations as they are non-renewable, and produce harmful chemicals that will traumatize the environment. Though no fuel is without it 's cons, the following data should suffice in explaining the benefits of alternative fuel 's such as Ethanol, Biodiesel, Hydrogen, Methanol and even sources that are always readily available such as solar, hydro, and wind. Today coal is one of the most utilized fuel sources, especially within the U.S. which comprises of 39% of U.S. 's electrical generation. Though its abundance and conversion to kWh 's makes it a potent supplier, trapped within coal are impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen that turn into pollutants once oxidized. Because of the hazards from burning coal the use of it as a fuel source has declined since its extensive use during the 1800 's. Oil is now the world 's number one transportation fuel source, and though it is not a significantly cleaner fossil fuel, it does produce less

The three type of major fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gas. These fossil fuels are considered non-renewable energy because of the length of time it will take for the natural processes to create these resources. It will take millions of years for them to form. Most of our coal was formed about 300 million years ago, when a majority of the earth was covered by steamy swamps. As the plants and the trees died, the remaining of the plants and trees sank to the bottom of the swap which accumulated layers upon layers. These layers eventually formed a soggy, dense material called peat. Over the millions of years, the earth’s surface, seas, and great rivers changed and caused deposits of sand, clay and other sedimentary rocks were formed. The pressure caused the weight to squeeze water from the peat. The deeper burial and heat associated with it steadily changed the material to coal. Scientists have also estimated that 3 to 7 feet of compacted plant matter is required to form 1 foot of bituminous coal. (COAL: Ancient Gift Serving modern Man, 2005).