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Fossil Fuels

Coal, oil and gas in modern society

  • 3 things to know
  • AS 1

Overview

How coal, oil and gas formed, why they are finite, the products of combustion and a methane calculation, their role in industry, transport, medicines and synthetic fibres, and how dependent society is on them.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

Evaluate the claim that modern society is dependent on fossil fuels.

Key term

List the three principal fossil fuels on Earth.

Key term

What is a fossil fuel?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    List the three principal fossil fuels on Earth.

    Model answer

    The three principal fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gas.

  2. 2

    What is a fossil fuel?

    Model answer

    A fossil fuel is a carbon-rich fuel formed from the buried remains of ancient organisms. Heat and pressure over millions of years turned the buried remains into coal, oil or gas.

  3. 3

    How did coal form?

    Model answer

    Coal formed from plant material that fell into swamps and was buried before it could fully decay. Heat and pressure over millions of years turned the peat into lignite, then harder coals.

  4. 4

    How did crude oil and natural gas form?

    Model answer

    Crude oil and natural gas formed from marine plankton buried in seabed sediments. Heat and pressure over millions of years converted the remains into hydrocarbons, which collected beneath impermeable cap rock.

  5. 5

    Why are fossil fuels described as finite?

    Model answer

    Fossil fuels take millions of years to form but are burned in moments. Fossil fuel stocks are used far faster than they are replaced, so the fuels will eventually run out.

  6. 6

    What are the main products when a fossil fuel burns completely?

    Model answer

    Complete combustion of a hydrocarbon produces carbon dioxide and water, releasing heat. Methane, for example, burns as CH₄ + 2O₂ → CO₂ + 2H₂O.

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