Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are fossil source fuels, that is, hydrocarbons found within the top layer of the earth’s crust. 

It is generally accepted that they formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants and animals by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. This is known as the biogenic theory and was first introduced by Mikhail Lomonosov in 1757.

Mikhail Lomonosov

Russian writer, chemist, and astronomer, who made important contributions to both literature and science 

Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form, and reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being formed.

When coal, natural gas or oil are burned, they release gases into the atmosphere:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a "greenhouse gas," trapping heat in the lowest part of the earth's atmosphere. This contributes to "global warming" - the average temperature of the earth slowly increases, affecting ecosystems across the globe.

• Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a key contributor to acid rain, primarily in the northeast U.S.

• Nitrogen oxide (NOx) contributes to acid rain and smog, as well as health issues such as lung inflammation, immune system changes and eye irritation.

There are three major forms of fossil fuels: 

• coal

• oil 

• natural gas

 All three were formed many hundreds of millions of years ago before the time of the dinosaurs - hence the name fossil fuels. The age they were formed is called the Carboniferous Period. It was part of the Paleozoic Era. "Carboniferous" gets its name from carbon, the basic element in coal and other fossil fuels. The Carboniferous Period occurred from about 360 to 286 million years ago. At the time, 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. 

All fossil fuels, whether solid, liquid, or gas, are the result of organic material being covered by successive layers of sediment over the course of millions of years. Some deposits of coal can be found during the time of the dinosaurs. For example, thin carbon layers can be found during the late Cretaceous Period (65 million years ago) - the time of Tyrannosaurus Rex. But the main deposits of fossil fuels are from the Carboniferous Period.  Fossil fuels supply over 80% of the world’s energy needs.

Coal is derived from the accumulation of partially decayed land plants. As the sediment solidifies into rock, the organic material decomposes under the influence of great pressure and high temperature. 

Fossil Fuel Facts

Source: Shell Oil

• The United States uses about 20.8 million barrels of oil every day.

• Fossil Fuels account for nearly 80% of our country's energy.

• Coal is used to produce almost 60% of our nations electrical power, and accounts for 22% of our overall energy consumption.
• Natural gas, a third form of fossil fuel, accounts for roughly 23% of The United States energy usage.
• It takes the equivalent of 7 gallons of gasoline per day for every man woman and child to keep this country running at its current pace.
• The U.S. is home to 4% of the world's population, yet consumes 26% of the world's energy.
• The earliest known use of coal was in China. Coal from the Fu-shun mine in northeastern China may have been used to smelt copper as early as 3,000 years ago
• Oil has been used for more than 5,000-6,000 years. The ancient Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians used crude oil and asphalt ("pitch") collected from large seeps at Tuttul (modern-day Hit) on the Euphrates River. A seep is a place on the ground where the oil leaks up from below ground. The ancient Egyptians, used liquid oil as a medicine for wounds, and oil has been used in lamps to provide light
• Sometime between 6,000 to 2,000 years BCE (Before the Common Era), the first discoveries of natural gas seeps were made in Iran. Many early writers described the natural petroleum seeps in the Middle East, especially in the Baku region of what is now Azerbaijan. The gas seeps, probably first ignited by lightning, provided the fuel for the "eternal fires" of the fire-worshiping religion of the ancient Persians.
• Fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas -- currently provide more than 85% of all the energy consumed in the United States, nearly two-thirds of our electricity, and virtually all of our transportation fuels.   Moreover, it is likely that the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels to power an expanding economy will actually increase over at least the next two decades even with aggressive development and deployment of new renewable and nuclear technologies.

For More Information About Fossil Fuels Click On The Links Below

• Coal

• Oil 

• Natural gas

• Gasoline

credit: Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, World Coal institute, OPEC, Shell Oil company