Coal And Petroleum

Coal and Petroleum Natural Resources: There are two types of natural resources:

Inexhaustible Natural Resources and Exhaustible Natural Resource Inexhaustible Natural Resources:
Resources which do not exhaust and which are available in plenty in nature are known as inexhaustible
natural resources. For example – air, sunlight, etc. Exhaustible Natural Resources: Resources which get
exhausted and are not available in nature in plenty and are known as exhaustible natural resources.
They take longer to get replenished. For example – coal, petroleum, forest, minerals, etc. Coal and
Petroleum: Coal and petroleum are exhaustible natural resources as their availability is limited in nature.
Coal and petroleum are used mainly as fuel. Coal is used as fuel, petroleum products are used to run
vehicle and for many other purposes. Coal and petroleum are known as fossil fuels since they are
formed from remains of living organism. Coal Coal is a black coloured stone-like material. Coal is used to
produce electricity in thermal power stations. Coal was used to run steam engine till recent years in
India. Coal gives carbon dioxide when burnt in air. Formation of Coal About 300 millions year ago, dense
forest in low lying lands of earth got buried because of many natural processes. In the due course, they
sank deeper and deeper. Inside the earth, because of high pressure and temperature they slowly
converted into coal. Such slow process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization.
Coal is considered as fossil fuel as it is formed because of carbonization of dead remains of living
organism. Coal is mined from earth and processed to obtain many useful products, such as coal, coke,
coal tar, etc.