Ankit Shahi                December 1 2009        

Fossil Fuels

Introduction:

Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources that formed more than 300 million years ago. Fossil fuels are made up of plant and animal matter. When plants and animals died, their bodies decomposed and were buried under layers of earth. Millions of years later we have the three forms of fossil fuel: oil, natural gas and coal. A form of non-renewable source.

Uses of fossil fuels:

Fossil fuels are burnt to release energy in the form of heat. This energy can be used to power cars, produce electricity, heat homes, cook food etc.

The procedure for the conversion of the fossil fuels to electricity.

First, the fuel (whether it's coal, oil, or gas) is burned in a furnace at very high temperatures. The furnace then superheats water into steam. The steam creates enormous amounts of pressure which is used to rotate a turbine, (which is like a set of very tightly packed fan blades on a shaft). The steam rushing past the fan blades causes the shaft to rotate very quickly. The rotor of the generator is attached to the shaft, which then produce electrical power (flow of electrons).

The following steps show how the fossil fuels are used to produce electricity:

Note: The Oil and Gas can be burnt directly but the coal is first crushed to a fine dust and then burned.  

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Nuclear reactions take place in a machine, where they produce their energy, that is called Nuclear reactors. The fuel of a nuclear reactor is typically Uranium-235 which is 0.7% of the uranium 238 (natural Uranium).

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The more neutrons that are present in the nuclear reactor the more fission will produce thus more energy would be gained. This is called a chain reaction. to continue a chain reaction, minimum mass of uranium – 235 must be present. This is the critical mass. If the critical mass is not provided, the neutrons will escape. Also, the uranium could only capture the neutrons if they are slow. To do this, a moderator is used. This material surrounds the fuel rods (contains uranium – 235). The control rods are also used; these are present so that they can ...

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