Fossil Fuels

1. Fossil Fuels By: Sasha Volkodav

2. What are fossil fuels? • Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural resources. • It is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms.

3. What are the different types of fossil fuels? • There are three major forms of fossil fuels. • They are coal, oil and natural gas. • All three were formed millions of years ago before the time of the dinosaurs. • The age they were formed is called the Carboniferous Period. • "Carboniferous" gets its name from carbon. • Carbon is the basic element in coal and other fossil fuels.

4. How is coal formed? • Coal was formed from the remains of vegetation that grew as long as 400 million years ago. • It is often referred to as “buried sunshine.” • This is because the plants which formed coal captured energy from the sun through photosynthesis to create the compounds that make up plant tissues. • The most important element in the plant material is carbon. • Carbon gives coal most of its energy.

5. What are the different stages of coal formation? • Coal takes millions of years to develop, and is derived from ancient plant matter that has been subjected to intense heatand pressure that affected physical and chemical alterations. • Organic plant matter at various stages of decay form peat. • Time and heat conditions experiences slow rates of bacterial decay and eventually goes on to form coal. • As peat is buried by sediment and becomes compressed, it slowly releases water and other elements contained within it, resulting in an increasingly compact and carbon rich substance. • The natural process converting plant matter to peat may go through different stages, first forming lignite, then sub bituminous coal, bituminous coal and eventually anthracite coal.

6. How is coal used as a fossil fuel? • Coal is used as a fossil fuel because it produces electricity and heat. • For example: When a person uses coal to run a train, it is being used as a fossil fuel.

7. How is oil formed? • Oil comes from tiny decayed plants, algae, and bacteria. • Oil was formed by the anaerobic decay of organic material in conditions of increased temperature and pressure. Oil forms as the result of a precise sequence of environmental conditions: • The presence of organic material. • The organic remains being trapped and preserved in sediment. • The material is buried deeply and then slowly "cooked" by increased pressure and temperature.

8. How is oil used as a fossil fuel? • Some examples of how oil is used as a fossil fuel are: • Heating oil for a home • Gasoline for cars, ships, and factories • For food • For airplanes • For fertilizers

9. How is a natural gas formed? • Natural gas is composed of the remnants of decayed plant and animal matter that has been subjected to massive pressure under the Earth’s crust over millions of years. • This formation of natural gas is referred to as thermogenic methane and it is made in a similar fashion to oil. • Natural gas can only be created under high pressure below the Earth’s crust. • A further way in which natural gas can be created is by microorganisms breaking down organic matter. • This produces methane in a process known as biogenic methane.

10. How is natural gas used as a fossil fuel? • Natural gas is used as a fossil fuel in many ways. • Here are some that are used often : • Steel • Glass • Paper • Clothing • Brick • Electricity • Paints • Fertilizer • Plastics • Antifreeze • Dyes • Photographic film • Medicines • Natural gas is also used in homes to fuel : • Stoves • water heaters • clothes dryers, and other household appliances. • More than half of the homes in the U.S. use natural gas as their main heating fuel.

11. What are refineries and why are they important to the production of fossil fuels? • A refinery is a factory. • It takes a raw material, like crude oil, and transforms it into gasoline and hundreds of other useful products. • Oil refineries are typically large sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout. • They carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units. • Oil refineries use much of the technology, and can be thought of as types of chemical plants.

12. The Exxon Valdez oil spill. • The Exxon Valdez was one of the most studied and publicized environmental tragedies in history.  • The Exxon Valdez grounded at Bligh Reef. • It ruptured eight of its 11 cargo tanks, and spewed some 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. • The first cleanup response was through the use of a dispersant, a surfactant and solvent mixture. • More than 11,000 Alaska residents, along with some Exxon employees, worked throughout the region to try to restore the environment. • Exxon was widely criticized for its slow response to cleaning up the disaster • It is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill. • Some subsurface oil had been reported in a few places. • It was expected to decrease over time and most importantly, to have lost its toxicity due to weathering. • A few species were not recovering at the expected rate in some areas. • The remaining oil will take decades and possibly centuries to disappear completely.

13. Deep water horizon oil spill • The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a massive ongoing oil spill from an underwater oil gusherin the Gulf of Mexico. • Eleven platform workers are missing and presumed dead. • The oil spill originates from a deepwater oil well5,000 feet below the ocean surface. • Numerous guesses have been made for the amount of oil discharging, ranging from 5,000 barrels to 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day. • The U.S. Coast Guard said that 170 vessels, and about 7,500 personnel were involved in the cleanup efforts, with an extra 2,000 volunteers helping. • More than 400 species, including whales and dolphins, are threatened, along with Louisiana's marshlands and barrier islands. • In the national refuges most at risk, about 34,000 birds have been counted, including terns, gulls, roseate spoonbills, shore birds, egrets, pelicans, and blue herons. • The Coast Guard received reports that oil had begun washing up to wildlife refuges on the Louisiana Gulf Coast. It is possible that the Gulf Stream sea currents can stretch the oil into the Atlantic Ocean.