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What Are Fossil Fuels?
What Are Fossil Fuels?
Excellent question: let's start with the basics.
Here are a list of bulleted facts:
Here are a list of bulleted facts:
Fossil fuels are also known as mineral fuels.
Everyday, we use so much energy! It all comes from fossil fuels . . .
They come from remains of decomposed, ancient plants and algae
The 3 main types of fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas
Some others are petroleum, natural gas, oil shales, bitumens, tar sands, and heavy oils.
All fossil fuels contain carbon.
They are formed by geologically developing the ancient remains of biotic organisms that use photosynthesis.
According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, "Today fossil fuels supply more than 80 percent of all the energy consumed by the industrially developed countries of the world."
Videos!
Videos!
Here are some great and reliable videos about fossil fuels.
This video, produced by the California Academy of Sciences, a research institute and natural history museum, clearly explains how fossil fuels are made, what they power, their problems, and how you can alleviate them! If no video is shown, simply click the title to be taken to the video.
National Geographic -- What Are Fossil Fuels?
Why Are Fossil Fuels Bad?
Why Are Fossil Fuels Bad?
"When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which in turn trap heat in our atmosphere, making them the primary contributors to global warming and climate change."
This is what National Geographic has to say on the matter. Greenhouse gases, or GHG, are a HUGE problem, one of the main factors of climate change. The EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency, explains, " (GHG) . . . trap some of the Earth's outgoing energy, thus retaining heat in the atmosphere. " Normally, this would be good, considering we need earth to stay warm enough for us, but unfortunately, too much (coming from all the recent burning of fossil fuels.
This makes the overall temperature of the earth much higher, which is bad for climate and other animals, as well as us. And, of course, the pollution that occurs because of burning these fossil fuels isn't good for the air or water of our planet. Check out our fossil fuels resources to learn more!
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