fossil fuel

(noun)

Any fuel derived from hydrocarbon deposits such as coal, petroleum, natural gas and, to some extent, peat; these fuels are irreplaceable, and their burning generates the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Related Terms

Examples of fossil fuel in the following topics:

  • World Energy Use

    • In global energy use, fossil fuels make up a substantial portion.
    • Fossil fuels, however, are not sustainable at the rate they are currently used.

  • What is Power?

    • Our consumption rate of fossil fuels is far greater than the rate at which they are stored, so it is inevitable that they will be depleted.
    • Furthermore, the typical electric power plant converts only 35 to 40 percent of its fuel into electricity.
    • The transfer of heat is not unique to coal plants but is an unavoidable consequence of generating electric power from any fuel—nuclear, coal, oil, natural gas, or the like.

  • Nuclear Fission in Reactors

    • Just as conventional power stations generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels, the thermal energy released from nuclear fission can be converted in electricity by nuclear reactors.

  • Heat Death

    • On Earth, we still have great stores of energy such as fossil and nuclear fuels; large-scale temperature differences, which can provide wind energy; geothermal energies due to differences in temperature in Earth's layers; and tidal energies owing to our abundance of liquid water.
    • Eventually, all fuels will be exhausted, all temperatures will equalize, and it will be impossible for heat engines to function, or for work to be done.

  • Rocket Propulsion, Changing Mass, and Momentum

    • The faster the rocket burns its fuel, the greater its thrust, and the greater its acceleration.
    • The rocket mass m decreases dramatically during flight because most of the rocket is fuel to begin with, so that acceleration increases continuously, reaching a maximum just before the fuel is exhausted.
    • To achieve the high speeds needed to hop continents, obtain orbit, or escape Earth's gravity altogether, the mass of the rocket other than fuel must be as small as possible.
    • where ln(m0/mr) is the natural logarithm of the ratio of the initial mass of the rocket (m0) to what is left (mr) after all of the fuel is exhausted.

  • Global Warming Revisited

    • In an average car engine, only 14% to 26% of the fuel which is put in is actually used to make the car move forward.
    • Department of Energy, 70% to 72% of heat produced by burning fuel is heat lost by the engine.

  • Orbital Maneuvers

    • With a good approximation of the delta-v budget, designers can estimate the fuel to payload requirements of the spacecraft using the rocket equation.
    • Hohmann transfer orbits are the most efficient with fuel.
    • Other non-Hohmann types of transfer orbits that are less efficient with fuel exist, but these may be more efficient with other resources (such as time).

  • Visible Light

    • Plants (and many bacteria) convert the light energy captured from the Sun into chemical energy that can be used to fuel the organism's activities.