Coal

Coal is a sedimentary deposit composed predominantly of carbon that is readily combustible. Coal is black or brownish-black, and has a composition that (including inherent moisture) consists of more than 50 percent by weight and more than 70 percent by volume of carbonaceous material. Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock with a high amount of carbon and hydrocarbons. Coal is classified as a nonrenewable energy source because it takes millions of years to form. Coal contains the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago in swampy forests. Coal is one of the fossil fuels which is black in colour and hard as stone. It is widely used in power plants to generate electricity. Earlier trains used to run on steam engines which used coal as a fuel. The electricity needed for running electric trains is majorly produced by coal. Coal is the most important and abundant fossil fuel in India. It accounts for 55% of the country’s energy need. The country’s industrial heritage was built upon indigenous coal. Commercial primary energy consumption in India has grown by about 700% in the last four decades. Coal is formed from remains of plants buried beneath the crust of the earth. Over time, geological actions change the chemical and physical properties of the remains to create a solid material i.e. coal. Coal is Gray or a brownish black sedimentary rock ready to be combustible. Coal is called a fossil fuel because it was made from plants that were once alive! Since coal comes from plants, and plants get their energy from the sun, the energy in coal also came from the sun. The coal we use today took millions of years to form. We can’t make more in a short time.