Fossil fuels & combustion

• Combustion: The scientific word for "burning". It happens when a fuel reacts with oxygen.
• Methane


  The fuel used in bunsen burners, gas cookers and boilers. It is a compound made of carbon and hydrogen and it has the formula CH4.
• The 3 types of fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gas.
• crude oil: oil that hasn’t been refined/processed
• natural gas doesnt need to be refined to be used
• coal needs to be mined from underground then transported to power stations where it can be burnt to produce electricity
• joule: unit to measure energy
• oxidation: a chemical change that involes the tge gain of oxygen
• When fossil fuels burn

  1. They react with oxygen

  2. This reaction releases energy
• Exothermic reaction


  A reaction that releases energy
• The energy content of foods and fuels can be measured using a calorimeter
• pollutant: a substance that pollutes something, especially water or the atmosphere
• examples of pollutants

  • carbon monoxide
  • sulphur oxide
  • nitrogen oxide
  • carbon particulates (soot)
• carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that is produced when fuels are burnt inefficiently
• sulphur oxide is a pollutant that causes acid rain and acid rain causes damage to plants and animals
• acid rain is rain that contains acidic ions from the atmosphere.
• nitrogen oxide is a poisonous gas that is produced by incomplete combustion of fuels
• incomplete combustion is when there is not enough oxygen in the air to completely burn the fuel
• complete combustion is when all the hydrogen in the fuel is burnt and carbon dioxide is produced
• Incomplete combustion: methane + oxygen > carbon +hydrogen
• complete combustion: methane + oxygen > carbon dioxide+ hydrogen
• carbon particulates are aerosols that are released from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels
• electrostatic:

   an attractive and repulsive force between particles are caused due to their electric charges