- Millions of years ago, the animals and plants which were usually from the plankton community (water organisms) would decompose after death and settle at the bottom of the seabed. This is the typical method by which most fossil fuels have evolved. There is no evidence of how these prehistoric organisms transformed. However, scientific studies show that fossil fuels were formed due to to a lot of pressure and heat over a long period of time.
- Fossil fuels are made up of easy-to-burn bonds of hydrogen and carbon (hydrocarbon) bonds. These hydrocarbon bonds store energy within themselves. This energy of the hydrocarbons is latent energy and is not kindled.
- Fossil fuels go through a process of oxidation through an application of heat known as combustion. Heat essentially acts as a catalyst in an exothermic reaction - a reaction that produces high amounts of heat and light as residue. The heat that contacts with the fossil fuels in the process of combustion enables the hydrogen and carbon molecules to chemically react, producing high amounts of energy and pollution via carbon dioxide as well.
- The hydrocarbon chains in fossil fuels, which are high sources of energy, react only when they contact external heat sources. Heating the hydrocarbon chains in a fossil fuel converts the latent energy in the fossil fuels to kinetic energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy or electrical energy which, in turn, gives it a function. This conversion of energy happens because the hydrogen and carbon molecules react to the heat and move to give away huge amounts of energy.
- The basic structure of a fossil fuel is a chain of hydrocarbons. However, with this basic structure remaining the same, the combination of hydrogen and carbons in hydrocarbons varies in different types of fossil fuels. Each kind of fossil fuel burns at different rates as their hydrogen and carbon structures vary.
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