SPRINGDALES SCHOOL, DHAULA KUAN

SCIENCE LEARNING MATERIAL

Std VIII

CHAPTER: COAL AND PETROLEUM

Guidelines
 Read the content of the chapter above and thereafter complete the assignment in a science
notebook/register/A4 sheet (whichever is conveniently available)
 Reference Book: NCERT Science TextBook (Chapter 5)

1. Resources
 Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas are exhaustible natural resources. They are fossil fuels.

 Fossil fuels are fuels that are formed by fossils (or dead remains) of living organisms.

Fig 1: Classification of Resources

A. Fuels: A fuel is any substance that releases large amounts of energy in the form of heat and light when it
is burned. For example, coal and petroleum are fuels.

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 Fuels can be classified as:

Classification of Fuels Definition Examples

For example, coal, firewood, animal dung
Solid Fuels These fuels exist in a solid state at room temperature
cakes, charcoal, coke
These are volatile liquids that produce vapour which
Liquid Fuels For example, petrol, diesel, kerosene
burns and produces energy
These are the fuels that exist in the form of a gas or
Gaseous Fuels For example, natural gas, biogas, CNG, coal gas
as a mixture of different gaseous fuels.

 Why do we need fossil fuels?

Fuels are required for different purposes such as:
 Transportation: fuels are used to run different vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, trains,
airplanes etc.
 Cooking: fuels are needed for cooking. For instance, LPG is used in urban areas while firewood,
coal and cattle dung is used in rural areas.
 Heating: fuel is also used to generate heat
 Electricity production: different fuels such as coal, petrol, natural gas and diesel are used to
generate electricity in power plants
 Industrial usage: many industries use fuels for different purposes such as producing electricity,
running their machinery and heating
 Rockets and other space vehicles: fuels called propellants are used in rockets that help in
launching the space vehicles
 What are the characteristics of a good fuel?
The characteristics of good fuel are:
 It should be economical.
 It should be available easily
 It should not emit poisonous gases on burning
 It should produce large amounts of heat with respect to its mass (it should have a high calorific
value)
 It should be easy to transport and handle
 It should not produce a bad odour
 It should be clean and should not produce many ashes
 It should not ignite easily at room temperature

2. Coal
Coal is a fossil fuel formed from dead plant matter over millions of years due to heat and pressure.

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 Fig 2: Coal
A. Formation of Coal

Fig 3: Formation of Coal

Over millions of years, coal is formed through different biological and geological processes on dead and
decaying plant matter. Coal mainly contains carbon. The process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is
called carbonization. Coal comes from a coal mine.

 What will happen if the coal reserves get depleted?

Coal is being used as a major source of energy in industries as well as rural areas. Not only this, it serves
various other purposes like the synthesis of synthetic oil, natural gas, coke, coal tar and coal gas. If the
amount of coal gets depleted it would become much difficult for us to produce energy for various purposes.
Hence, we must use coal in an efficient way.

 What substances are released on the burning of coal?

 Carbon dioxide
 Carbon monoxide
 Sulphur Dioxide
 Nitrogen
 Lead
 Arsenic
 Mercury

 Uses of Coal
 Used as fuel to cook food.
 Used in thermal power plants to produce electricity.
 Used as fuel in various industries.
 Once used as fuel to run steam-powered railway engines.

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 When processed, coal yields coke, coal tar and coal gas which in turn is used by many industries.

B. Major Coal Products

Fig 4: Coal products

C. Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbons are the substances that consist of only carbon and hydrogen. Compounds like methane,
butane, and hexane are hydrocarbons that are produced on burning of the fossil fuels.

3. Petroleum
The term 'Petroleum' is derived from two words - 'Petra' which means 'rock' and 'oleum' which means 'oil'. It
is mined from the rocks under the Earth.

Petroleum (also known as crude oil) is a fossil fuel formed from the remains of ancient marine organisms.

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 Fig 5: Petroleum
A. Formation of Petroleum

Fig 6: Formation of Petroleum

 When the sea organisms die, their bodies sink to the bottom of the sea. With time, they get covered by
the layers of sand and clay.

 Over millions of years, these remains get transformed in petroleum and natural gas due to high
temperature, high pressure, and absence of air.

 When we dig oil wells, natural gas is above crude oil which in turn is above water. This happens because
gas and oil are lighter than water and do not mix with it.

B. Refining of Petroleum

 Originally, petroleum is a mixture of many things, such as petrol, diesel, petroleum gas, paraffin wax,
lubricating oil etc.

 It is a dark and oily liquid with an unpleasant odour.

 Refining of petroleum is the process by which different constituents of petroleum are separated.

 This process takes place in a petroleum refinery.

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C. Constituents of Petroleum and their Uses

Fig 7: Constituents of Petroleum

 Why Petroleum is called ‘black gold?

Petroleum is called 'black god' because it yields several substances that are commercially successful. The
useful substances obtained from petroleum and natural gas are called 'petrochemicals'. Petrochemicals are
used in manufacturing:
 Synthetic fibres (such as Polyester, Nylon, Acrylic etc.),
 Detergents,
 Polythene, and
 Man-made plastics.

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 Fig 8: Oil Reserves in India

4. Natural Gas
Natural gas is a fossil fuel found naturally as a hydrocarbon gas mixture in the oil wells. Its main component is
methane, but it may also contain varying amounts of other higher alkanes (a group of elements). Gases like
carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulphide are also found in natural gas in small percentages.

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 Fig 9: Natural Gas

 Why is Natural Gas important as a fossil fuel?

Natural gas is considered important as this fossil fuel can easily be transported through pipes. It is stored as
CNG which is used for several purposes and is also used as a starting material for manufacturing many
chemicals and fertilizers. Natural Gas does not cause pollution and has high calorific value.

A. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG):

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is the natural gas stored under high pressure.

 Why is CNG useful?

 Fuel to generate power
 Cleaner fuel for transport vehicles (less polluting than petrol and diesel)
 Fuel in homes and industries which can be supplied through pipes.
 CNG pipeline network already exists in Vadodara in Gujarat, some parts of Delhi and some other
places.
 Why is CNG considered as a cleaner fuel?
 Natural gas is considered a better fuel than coal and petroleum because it is cleaner.
 This means that it results in less amount of pollution that the other fossil fuels.
 Natural gas emits 50% less carbon dioxide, sulphur and nitrogen oxides in the air.
 However, it is not the best solution as there are better sources of energy present nowadays like
solar energy.

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 Fig 10: Natural Gas reserves in India
5. Environment Impacts
A. Consequences of the burning of fossil fuels

 Increase in air pollution: The burning of fossil fuels results in the release of unburnt carbon
particles in the air. These particles act as pollutants and increase air pollution. Fossil fuels release
poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere.
 Global Warming: Fossil fuels when burnt release large amounts of carbon dioxide in the air. As
the amount of carbon dioxide increases it results in an increase in the global temperature of the
earth and leads to global warming.
 Scarcity: Fossil fuels are exhaustible resources which mean that they are not present in
abundant quantities on the earth. They take hundreds and thousands of years to replenish. The
rate at which they are being consumed today is increasing at a rapid pace. It means that more
amounts of fossil fuels are being used than it is being replenished.

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ASSIGNMENT
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Water is a ________
a. Natural substance
b. Man made substance
c. Both of these
d. None of these
2. When coal burns in air then
a. Carbon dioxide is formed
b. Sulphur dioxide is formed
c. Carbon monoxide is formed
d. Hydrogen gas is formed
3. Purest form of carbon is
a. Coal
b. Charcoal
c. Coke
d. All of these
4. Coaltar contains about
a. 300 substance
b. 400 substance
c. 200 substance
d. 100 substance
5. The first oil well was drilled in
a. USA
b. USSR
c. UK
d. India
6. PCRA stands for
a. Public Conservations Research Association
b. Petroleum Conservation Research Association
c. Public Council of Research Association
d. Partial Counting of remaining Amendment
7. An example of fossil fuel is
a. Wood
b. Animal waste
c. Coal
d. All of these
8. Which of the following is natural resource?
a. Car
b. Bus
c. Water
d. Parks
9. Which of the following is manmade resource?
a. Air
b. Water
c. Soil
d. Parks
10. Which of the following is obtained from coal tar?
a. Petrol
b. Coke
c. Air

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 d. Naphthalene balls
Short answer type questions

1. Name two man-made substances, two natural and two exhaustible substances.
2. Name the gas which is formed when coal is heated in the absence of air.
3. Where was the first oil well drilled?
4. How many substances are found in coal tar?
5. Name the places where natural gas is found in India.
6. What are exhaustible natural resources? Explain with examples.
7. What is coal gas? Write its uses.
8. What is petroleum? What is it called black gold?
9. Describe the process of formation of coal in the nature.
10. What is main component of CNG

Please attempt the following quiz based on Coal and Petroleum to further test your understanding
https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/57b2f951e486e23c31ffeb25?studentShare=true

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