What are fossil fuels and where do they come from?.
By definition fossil fuels are energy rich substances that have formed from long-buried plants and (micro) organisms; hence the name fossil fuel. Petroleum, coal, and natural gas make up the three major forms of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels provide most of the energy that powers our modern day industrial society. Everything from the gasoline that fuels your cars to the natural gas that heats our homes are all fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels formed during the Carboniferous Period, a part of the Paleozoic Era. The Carboniferous Period occurred from about 360 to 286 million .
years ago. If you want to picture how the Earth looked 360 to 286 million years ago: the land was covered with swamps filled with gigantic trees, ferns and other large leafy plants, the seas were covered with algae. As the trees and plants died, they sank to the bottom of the swamps and oceans. They formed layers and layers of peat. As years passed, rocks, sand, clay and other minerals covered the peat. After years of the sedimentary rock weighing and pressing down on the peat, water was "squeezed" out of the peat, and over millions of years the peat turned into coal, oil/petroleum, and natural gas.
Fossil fuel consumption and depletion.
Fossil fuels are largely burned to produce energy. This energy is used to power out cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, ships, to provide heat, light, ac, etc Fossil fuels took millions of years to make, and cannot be synthetically made, nor can be reproduced at all by man. Meaning the fossil fuels that still remain will continue to deplete in numbers, and cannot be replaced. Once all of fossil fuels are used and burned, we need to acquire other methods in generating energy.
The use of fossil fuels or other substances derived from fossil fuels have .
dire consequences. Acid rain, and global warming are two of the most serious environmental issues that are related to "large-scale fossil fuel combustion" (Encarta,2).
