Energy Resources – Fossil Fuels Note Sheet Name ______
7th Grade Environmental Science
Mrs. Krempa Date & Section ______
Be detailed in your answers during the presentation – these are your only notes!
1. List the three main fossil fuels
a. Coal b. Petroleum
c. Natural Gas
2. What is the most plentiful fossil fuel in the US? Coal (bituminous in PA)
3. How are fossil fuels made?
Formed from the remains of organisms that lived long ago.
4. Define hydrocarbon
A compound made of hydrogen and carbon.
5. Define combustion.
The process of burning. Your car has a combustion engine – burns the gasoline to make engine go.
6. What is coal? The remains of swamp plants from millions of years ago.
history? Once used to heat homes and for transportation (coal burning steam engine trains) now
more than half of the USA’s electricity comes from coal-burning power plants
How formed? Swamp plants die and sink to bottom. Sediment covers dead plants. Over time,
increased pressure from sediment and heat squeezes plant matter together and drives water out. Carbon content and hardness increase.
How gotten? Must be mined – found underground.
7. What is peat? First stage in coal formation. Brittle, brown plant material.
how is it made Dead swamp plants get covered with sediment and squeezed together.
where is it found & how is it used at the earth’s surface, can be burned like wood.
how does it burn? burns quickly with lots of smoke, very little carbon
8. What is Lignite? 2nd stage in coal formation. Soft, brown coal.
how is it made more sediments add pressure & heat to Peat.
where is it found & how is it used Found underground and must be mined. Can be burned.
how does it burn burns quickly but with little smoke, 40% carbon.
9. What is bituminous coal? 3rd stage in coal formation. Soft coal.
how is it made over time, heat and pressure change lignite into a purer form of coal.
where is it found & how is it used Deep in earth’s crust, most mined coal in USA. Used in industry
and in coal burning power plants.
how does it burn burns hot with less smoke, 85% carbon.
10. What is anthracite coal? Hard coal, shiny, black.
how is it made Heat and pressure added to bituminous to a metamorphic rock.
where is it found & how is it used Deepest underground of all coals. Used in home heating
how does it burn burns hot with the least amount of smoke, 95% carbon. “Cleanest” burning.
11. What is petroleum? A liquid mixture of hydrocarbon compounds (a liquid fossil fuel)
how is it made Microscopic marine (sea) organisms die and sink to bottom of ocean. Sediments
bury, then heat and pressure change remains into a thick black liquid.
where found? Underground trapped between layers of permeable (has holes in it) rock.
how are underground pools formed petroleum flows in to the pores (holes) in permeable rock,
impermeable (no holes) rock traps the petroleum from getting away.
12. What is crude oil?
Petroleum first gotten from the ground. Unchanged.
What is refining? The process of separating the crude oil into different products.
13. What is natural gas? A mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons ( a gaseous fossil fuel)
Where is it found? Trapped above petroleum pools.
What is the most common gas in natural gas? methane
How is natural gas used? Directly to cook, heat your house, other appliances.
14. Uses of fossil fuels –include all products made from fossil fuels and all other uses!
Gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, grease, jet fuel, asphalt, nylon & polyester, plastics,
15. Pros and Cons of fossil fuels
Pros Cons
Relatively inexpensive to get Burning fossil fuels makes acid rain
______disturbs habitats, lowers water table & pollutes
______Oil spills
______burning creates smog
______releases CO2 that increases Global Warming