Logged out
Access All our Essays in an Instant
Swap your work for FREE access, or pay £4.99 for instant access
Oil, natural gas, and coal are the main sources of energy for modern use. All of these fuels are classified as fossil fuels. They are hydrocarbon deposits because they contain hydrogen and carbon
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Wed Feb 22 2006
Page Preview
On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:
Formation All of the three major types of fossil fuels were formed many millions of years ago in the Carboniferous period. The Carboniferous period occurred from about 360-286 million of years ago. Coal was one of these fossil fuels. At the time the land was covered with swamps filled with enormous trees and plants. As the trees and the plants died, they sank to the bottom of these swamps. They formed layers of a spongy material called peat. Over many hundreds of years, sand, clay and other minerals covered the peat that made it into sedimentary rock. More and more pressure was applied to the peat and also the heat built up making the water and gas squeeze out eventually forming coal! What is coal? Coal is a hard, black coloured substance. It is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and varying amounts of sulphur. The three main types of coal are...
Get instant access
- Instant, unlimited access to our documents in full
- Swap your work for free access, or pay £4.99
- To see the full version of this document and 147,231 others
Receive email updates for this category
- Simply tell us your email address and receive a weekly Study Help Email for FREE
- Receive 3 FREE essay views with each email
- Get all the latest essays from Coursework.Info & discussion from TheStudentRoom.co.uk
