Coal Research Paper

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What is coal? How do we use it? Where does it come from? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in this episode of “The Experimentals!” Coal is a fossil fuel that is used for electricity. In this segment we will be identifying coal and explained how it is formed, what it is made from, different types of coal and how it is used. How coal is found (exploration), how it is extracted and what scientists are involved in this process will also be explained. I will analyse the positive and negative issues that are arising from the mining and consumption of coal and lastly I will evaluate the role that scientists play in working together to solve the issues that are created in the coal mining industry. Firstly, coal will be identified …show more content…
When plants and trees died their remains sunk to the bottom of the swamps and as layers built up they formed a dense, soggy material called peat. After millions of year’s layers of sediment became compacted, much of the water removed and coal was formed. This is the reason coal is so flammable because of there are lots of trees compressed into one small piece of coal. This means that the coal is high in carbon; it is the carbon that is burnt therefore, producing large quantities of heat. There are four different types, which are peat, lignite, black coal and anthracite. Peat is used as a domestic fuel in rural parts of Scotland and Ireland. It contains roots of plants and shows very little alteration. Lignite is very young coal (upwards of around 40,000 years). It is brown and can be soft and fibrous containing plant material. It has a lot of moisture and low energy content. As lignite develops from peat it loses its fibrous character and darkens in colour. Black coal was formed around cretaceous age (65 to 105 million years ago) to mid Permian age (up to 260 million years ago). It is black and very sooty but still very high in moisture. Anthracite is very hard, black and shiny. It contains virtually now moisture and very low volatile
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