What is fossil fuels?

Fossil fuels are non-renewable materials such as hydrocarbons; these include coal, fuel oil or natural gas formed from the remains of dead plants and animals. The term ‘fossil fuels’ also includes hydrocarbon-containing natural resources that are not derived from animal or plant sources. These ‘fossil fuels’ are buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal natural gas or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust over hundreds of millions of years. These fuels are burnt to produce heat which heats water and turns to steam this steam then drives turbines that rotate inside a coiled wire cylinder. This creates a magnetic field and electricity is produced. The burning of these fossil fuels generates greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide which causes radiation from the planet’s atmosphere to heat the planet’s surface above a temperature to what it would be without its atmosphere. This contributes to the melting of ice sheets in the Northern and Southern hemisphere which leads to sea levels rising. The effects of fossil fuels burning also lead to health problems such as cancer and respiratory diseases, heart diseases, high blood pressure, and strokes.