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COAL
Coal Energy
Coal is burned in power plants to make electricity. Before coal this way, it is crushed into a powder to make it burn better and hotter. Did you know when coal burns at a high temperature it heats water in a boiler to produce steam. The steam spins turbines that drives generators which produces electricity. The electricity is sent along cables to homes and businesses. Here is a video if you are not sure what I'm talking about.
How a coal power station works
How to make coal
Coal is made from the remains of ancient plants. Over millions of years the plants have change into coal some coal was formed even before dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Coal
Coal is used as a fuel because it burns so well. A lump of coal burns slowly on the outside and gives off heat for a long time. Coal contains a substance called carbon and this is the part of coal that burns. Coal takes 100 years to be formed.
coal
Advantages of coal
Some of the advantages are coal plants today emit 40% less co2 than the average coal plant did 50 years ago. It can be used to generate electricity and there is a lot of coal in the ground. Coal is very cheap and coal employees Coal burning in utilities does not raise the problem of nuclear weapons proliferation and related safeguards. a lot of people with good paying jobs. There are enough sites, coal mines, engineering talent and materials to construct coal plants on schedule.
Disadvantages
The combustion of coal is the largest single source of sulfur oxide pollution worldwide.
Carbon dioxide, an unavoidable by-product of coal combustion, causes a warming of the earth which can lead to global climatic changes.
Toxic metals and carcinogenic compounds are released through the combustion of coal.
Coal combustion produces solid wastes such as boiler ash and flash, and causes water pollution.
Strip-mining produces soil waste problems, acid drainage, unproductive land, and ugly terrain. Soil erosion pollutes streams.