Fossil fuel is a general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals over millions of years. Fossil fuels are called so because they have been derived from fossils that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust over millions of years. Fossil fuels take millions of years to make, but burn and disappear in seconds. Once they are used, they cannot be used again. These are non-renewable sources of energy. Fossil fuels are usually found below earth’s surface. Coal is dug out while natural gas is pumped out.
These fuels are made up of decomposed plant and animal matter. When plants and animals die they get decomposed and layer upon layer under the ground. Their decomposed remains gradually change over the years. It takes millions of years to form these layers into fuel. Crude oil, coal, petroleum are natural gas are major fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels are of great importance as they produce large amount of energy per unit weight. The utilization of fossil fuels has enabled large-scale industrial development. Any of these fuels, coal, oil or gas, can be burnt to make electricity in power stations. Fossil fuel is use in transportation and cooking either directly or in one of the by-products form.
The burning of fossil fuels emits large amount of carbon dioxide, which is one of the main greenhouse gases that leads to global warming. Burning any fossil fuel means pollution of some sort. Even if the fuel is low in sulfur, the atmosphere contains nitrogen, which combines with oxygen at the high burning temperatures found in boilers, jet, or car engines. This yields nitrogen oxides, which like sulfur dioxide, dissolves in rain to form nitric acid. Both gases are poisonous to humans.
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