Fossil Fuels

• Fossil fuels


  Coal, oil, and gas
• Formation of fossil fuels


  1. Plant remains covered with sediment and compressed by high temperature and pressure

  2. Plankton settle in mud on seabed, compressed by sediment and heat and pressure
• Fossil fuels


  • Non-renewable
  • Formed over millions of years
• Coal


  Formed from remains of ferns and trees that die in marshy wetlands and do not decompose due to lack of oxygen or acidic conditions
• Oil (crude oil)


  Formed from plankton (tiny plants and animals) that die and settle in mud on seabed, do not decompose due to lack of oxygen
• Natural gas


  Mainly the hydrocarbon methane, often found near oil deposits, formed from plankton in a similar way to oil
• Old fossil fuels contain trapped carbon that was part of the carbon dioxide taken in by photosynthesis
• Burning fossil fuels has effects on the planet that will be looked at in a later video