The Burning of Fossil Fuels and Climate Change
Fossil fuel are our renewable energy resources such as oil, fuel, and natural gas. These resources were formed from plant and animal life millions of years ago. These sources enable us to heat homes, fly planes, and drive cars. As the world’s total energy demand heavily relies on fossil fuels, there is some controversy on the carbon emissions that are resulted from the use of fossil fuels. To reduce these carbon emissions, many alternative energy resources are being studied to fix this problem. (Davidson, 2014)
Fossil fuels are made up of hydrocarbons. These are structures composed of carbon and hydrogen in different forms. Paraffins, aromatics, cycloalkanes or naphthenes, are all the major components in petroleum. As for natural gases composed of hydrocarbons, these are compounds such as methane CH4, propane C3H8, ethane C2H6, and butane C4H10. Coal is another fossil fuel which is mainly composed of carbon and contains some nitrogen, sulfur, etc. example: C10H2 The carbon it contains is one of the most abundant atoms in the universe. (Mogck, 2014)
Fossil fuels are essential in today’s day for the use of energy resources such as electricity. Billions of coal is burned yearly in order to provide electricity for the use of everyday living. When creating a comfortable climate to live in, natural gas and oil come in handy. As these 2 fossil fuels are burnt, they provide the powering up of your furnace to heat your home and the powering of your air conditioner to cool your home. These 2 energy resources release energy in the process of heating or cooling a home. (Davidson, 2014)
Oil is an essential fossil fuel ensuring the use of airplanes, cars, buses, etc. It is most commonly used in the form of diesel or gasoline to power these vehicles. To produce a gallon of gasoline, it has been estimated that 98 tons of plant material is required. (Davidson, 2014)
As it can be seen, fossil fuels are a big part of today’s society in order to provide the luxuries that are used for an easier life. As fossil fuels create a combustion reaction, it looks something like this:
Fuel + Oxygen Heat + Carbon Dioxide + Water + Nitrogen
This reaction is exothermic and therefore all the hydrocarbon is able to react with the oxygen.
An essential way to distinct the most efficient fuel is to look for the highest heat of combustion. This is the reaction that produces the most energy per unit of mass.
As fossil fuels are a scarce energy resource, they will run out eventually and no longer be a energy resource that can be used in day to day use, such as to heat our homes. Fossil fuels are not the most beneficial source of energy towards the environment, as the combustion reaction followed through produces a ton of carbon dioxide residue into the environment. Often times, fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas consist of sulfur compounds which when burned can form corrosive acid rain. Fossil fuels are also a big component in the rising of global warming which everyday is altering our earth. (Davidson, 2014) Watch this video to learn more about the effects of fossil fuels: