How do we get energy from coal? Detailed answer

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How do we get energy from coal? Detailed answer

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How do we get energy from coal?

Let's start by finding out what hard coal is. Coal is the remains of ancient trees and plants that grew in the vast swampy jungle in a humid warm climate hundreds of millions of years ago. When these trees and plants died, they fell into the still swampy waters, which kept them from rotting. The bacteria turned some of the wood into gases that escaped, leaving a black mass that was mostly carbon. From this began the formation of the so-called coal seams.

Over time, a thick layer of earth and sand was applied over this black paste-like plant mass. With their weight, the earth and sand almost completely squeezed out all the liquid from it, and it began to harden, turning into coal. This whole process took place between one million and two hundred and fifty million years ago. Energy, that is, the ability to do work, is inherent in matter. Everything on earth that has mass and occupies some place in space is matter. Energy and matter are the two fundamental principles that form the Universe and everything that is in it.

Matter is made up of atoms, and each atom has energy particles. Energy holds the parts of an atom together. Matter can turn into energy, and energy into matter, and so on ad infinitum. Coal energy was originally solar energy. Millions of years ago, plants used this energy for chemical reactions that ensure growth, and the carbon dioxide contained in the air was transformed into carbon, which then became coal. This energy can be released by heat. Heat makes atoms and molecules move faster and faster until some electrons start to jump out of them.

When coal is ignited, heat energy is released. It has always been in him in the form of so-called potential energy. The heat releases the energy stored in the coal and converts it into kinetic energy, that is, work energy. This is the energy that makes engines and generators work for us.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

How does a Geiger counter work?

You have probably heard that the Geiger counter helps modern man in the exploration of rare metals. Or you may have heard the Geiger counter mentioned when people talk about the dangers posed by atomic explosions. In both cases, a phenomenon called radiation, or radiation, occurs. Certain radioactive elements emit rays that are easily detected and measured with a Geiger counter. This counter was invented by Hans Geiger, and then improved by a scientist named Müller.

The counter is a vacuum tube. It is arranged quite simply: inside a very thin glass test tube there are two plates and a small amount of gas, such as argon. Tubes filled with gas are familiar to you - these are luminous neon advertising tubes. In a neon tube or fluorescent lamp, the gas begins to glow if the contacts are connected to a source of electrical energy of sufficiently high voltage. The high voltage deposits the gas and allows a huge stream of electrons to move between the two plates. When this movement of the flow of electrons begins, the gas inside the tube begins to glow.

In a Geiger counter, on the other hand, the voltage must be very low so that the gas does not begin to glow under normal conditions. Now let's imagine what happens if a radioactive substance is nearby. Its radiation penetrates the tube and begins to interact with gas molecules. From this they get energy and make the gas glow. So, now an electric current passes through the tube. If you pass it through the counter, you can find out the amount of radiation that got into the tube.

And you can also make this current tick, which we usually associate with a Geiger counter. Since the Geiger counter is a radiation-capturing device, it certainly cannot capture anything that does not produce radiation. Therefore, the possibilities of using it to search for rare metals are very limited.

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A group of researchers from Switzerland and the United States for the first time experimentally confirmed the existence of the so-called magnetic Seebeck effect.

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