Fossil Fuels bacteria flourished in the warm and

shallow seas present millions of

 Fossil fuels are compound mixtures years ago. When they died, they
made of fossilized plant and animal sank to the bottom of the sea where
remnants from millions of years ago. they became covered in sediment.
 The creation of fossil fuels from these The oxygen-depleted ocean floor
fossils is determined by the type of kept bacteria from consuming the
fossil, the amount of heat, and the remnants of decayed organisms and
amount of pressure. instead allowed for them to be
 Types of Fossil Fuels: buried deep underground.
1. Coal - solid  Decomposition
2. Oil – liquid - As the fossil material begins to get
3. Natural Gas – gaseous buried deeper and deeper
 Coal underground it is subjected to
- Coal is formed from fossilized increased heat and pressure. As the
plants. As the plants heat rises, the fossil molecules begin
get buried deeper and deeper to break apart. The initial
underground they breakdown creates partially changed
become subjected to intense heat. materials, like peat from plants and
- Quite abundant compared to the kerogen from plankton. These
other two fossil fuels. transitional materials can be used as
 Oil fuel sources too, however, they have
Oil is formed from buried plankton. less stored energy than fully formed
As sediment coal, natural gas, or oil.
accumulates on top of the fossilized - As the plant material begins to break
plankton over down it turns into fibrous material
the millennia, intense heat flow called peat. Peat is the partially
from the depths decomposed plant material that can
of the earth transform the plankton eventually turn into coal when
into oil. subjected to more heat. Also known
- Most widely used fossil fuel as turf, peat has traditionally been
 Natural Gas harvested around the world for fuel
- Versatile. after it is cut from marshlands like
- Abundant and relatively clean bogs or fens.
compared to coal and oil. - The initial decomposition of
- Similar to oil, natural gas is formed plankton leads to a waxy material
from buried plankton, but also from called kerogen. Kerogen is the
coal in late stages of breakdown. partially decomposed plankton that
- The creation of natural gas, can eventually turn into oil and
however, requires higher natural gas when subjected to more
temperatures than oil. heat. It is found in the form of shale
 The Beginning: rock or “oil shale” along with other
- Fuels are sources of energy and minerals. Throughout history
fossil fuels are no different. The commercial interests have tried to
energy in fossil fuels comes from produce oil from kerogen, however,
the sun, which drives photosynthesis the labor, necessary resources, and
to change carbon dioxide and water hazardous waste byproduct have
into the molecular building blocks halted all attempts.
of ancient plants and animals.  Fossil Fuels Form
- Both plants and animals build their - After millions of years underground,
bodies using predominantly carbon the compounds that make up
and hydrogen atoms and it is the plankton and plants turn into fossil
stored energy in the fossilized fuels. Plankton decomposes into
hydrocarbon-type compounds that natural gas and oil, while plants
serve as fuel when burned. become coal.
- Plants are the main precursor - Today, humans extract these
component of coal. When the plants resources through coal mining and
died, they fell into the water, where the drilling of oil and gas wells on
decomposition was stalled because land and offshore. They are sought
of a lack of oxygen. after because they contain stored
- Oil and natural gas mainly form energy, and when burned, fossil
from microscopic plankton. These fuels power machinery and provide
microscopic animals, algae, and transportation, as well as the
 electricity essential to modern-day impacts to the
life. They also contain essential surrounding environment. No two
ingredients used within the chemical oil spills are exactly
industry. the same, and the composition of the
 The Chemical Breakdown spilled crude oil
- Crude oil is a mixture of thousands as well as the circumstances of the
of different molecules made up of spill may impact
compounds containing mostly how the spill is cleaned up by
hydrogen and carbon. Every crude responders.
oil deposit has a unique composition - Oil naturally escapes from the earth
and proportion of these in deep ocean
hydrocarbons. Based upon this seeps and in areas on land where
chemical composition, crude oil can earthquakes are
have a range of densities from thick prevalent. Nearly half the oil in the
and viscous to light and fluid. It is ocean comes from
designated as either sweet or sour natural oil seeps. Seeps are slow and
depending upon residual amounts of gradually release
sulfur and can range from a oil which locally provides food to
transparent golden yellow to a deep organisms adapted to
black. using oil components, especially
bacteria.
- Oil is used to power industry. Cars,
planes, and homes
are powered by fuels refined from
oil and when the
fuels are burned it releases carbon
dioxide, a
greenhouse gas, into the
atmosphere. It is this carbon
dioxide that builds in the
atmosphere and acts like a
blanket, trapping heat around the
earth and warming
the planet. Once burned, carbon
dioxide remains in
the atmosphere for hundreds of
- In order to be used within industry years.
and for transportation the crude oil - Oil is used to produce many
must be separated into its individual different substances
hydrocarbon-based fuels and beyond just fuels and many of those
lubricants. With so many molecule products can be
types, there isn’t an industry that found within the home. This
doesn’t use oil products in some includes plastic products,
form or another. Oil is used as paint, the asphalt in driveways, and
lubricants, fuel, in plastics, the shingles
cosmetics, and even medicine. In covering home roofs.
general, oil’s composition is  There are several steps an energy source
classified into four different types of must go through before it becomes
molecules. useful
 Oil in the Environment 1. Exploration
- After all this transformation, oil is - First the energy source must
naturally found in the environment. be found, geologists are
It typically is deep below the surface constantly studying areas
of the earth, but can also be found and their rocks to determine
bubbling up or even in the form of if deposits or wells are
tar balls on the beach. likely to occur.
- Humans can expose the 2. Extraction
environment to massive - Once a source is located it
quantities of oil in events like then needs to be removed
wellhead leaks, ruptured from the Earth. Extraction
pipelines, and oil tanker groundings. processes can vary from
These accidental mining for coal, mechanical
oil releases can have devastating
 harvesting of peat and
drilling for oil and gas.
3. Processing
- Processing can take the
form of crushing, grinding
and milling. Coal is broken
into smaller usable lumps
for use in domestic settings
and peat is often milled and
compressed into briquettes
for use in the home.
4. Refining
- The oil that is pumped from
the earth is extracted in the
form of crude oil. This oil
must be sent to a refinery
where the different mixtures
of fuels are separated by a
processes called fractional
distillation. The oil is
separated into its different
components such as petrol,
diesel, kerosene, and
residue. These components
can be processed further to
make plastics.