Joke Collection Website - Mood Talk - Oil and coal come from animals and plants. Is it true or false? Can it be regenerated in the future?

Oil and coal come from animals and plants. Is it true or false? Can it be regenerated in the future?

Since coal and oil were discovered by human beings, they are indispensable and important energy sources for the progress and development of human civilization. So where does this energy come from? There is a simple description about the source of coal and oil. Coal comes from plants while oil comes from animals. Is it true?/You don't say.

Although coal and oil are the most important energy sources for human beings, their properties and causes are completely different. Let's start with coal. The theory that coal comes from plants has been widely recognized and supported by many evidences, but there are still some different voices disturbing the audience, so it is necessary to refute it. Some people don't support the theory that plants become coal because they think that trees will be corroded after death and then become part of the soil. Since it is difficult to preserve the whole body, how can we turn it into coal? This statement seems reasonable, but it ignores an important factor, that is, the time when coal was formed.

As we all know, woody plants appeared about 350 million years ago, that is, during the Carboniferous period, and woody plants were the main force to form coal.

At present, more than half of the discovered coal resources were produced during the Carboniferous period. When trees die, they will be sealed by sediments, which is not difficult for the earth during the Carboniferous period, because at that time, the earth was full of swamps. With the passage of time and geological changes, these buried trees gradually carbonize to form coal under the action of high temperature and high pressure.

Then there is a problem here. Why do trees not rot into soil after death, but become coal with geological subsidence? The reason lies in the time when coal was formed. The peak of coal formation is Carboniferous. At this time, microorganisms on the earth have not evolved the ability to decompose lignin, so trees will not be decomposed into fertilizers by microorganisms after death.

People who don't believe in the theory of plant-formed coal also have a view that the density of coal seam is high, while the density of forest is obviously lower than that of coal seam.

First of all, the forest density in Carboniferous was much higher than it is now, and a large number of trees and ferns were the raw materials of coal. Secondly, dead trees do not directly turn into coal. It is written here that dead trees will gradually become peat after being sealed by sediment, and peat is a kind of gel. After that, peat will accumulate and compact, and gradually become lignite. Finally, with the subsidence of geology, the coal we see now will be formed under the action of high temperature and high pressure, so it is natural that the density of coal seam is higher than that of trees in the forest.

Speaking of coal, let's talk about oil now. Unlike coal, there is still controversy about the formation of oil. One view holds that oil is formed by organisms, while the other holds that the formation of oil has nothing to do with organisms.

Science pays attention to evidence, so most scientists support the theory of biological oil generation. So far, many signs of life have been found in oil.

So according to the theory of biological oil generation, how is oil formed? The main raw materials for forming oil are some algae and plankton. When these creatures die, their bodies will be deposited to the bottom of the water. After these underwater sediments composed of corpses continue to be covered, they will undergo chemical changes due to the increase of temperature and pressure, thus forming oil and natural gas that we are familiar with.

According to the theory of biological oil generation, the formation of oil is similar to the formation of coal, especially requiring high temperature and high pressure. The difference is that the formation of coal requires specific conditions. After the Cretaceous, it was difficult for trees to produce coal because microorganisms evolved the ability to decompose lignin, but the formation of oil was less troublesome.

Because the formation of coal requires specific conditions, coal is a typical non-renewable resource, which can theoretically generate oil continuously, but it takes a long time to generate oil. From this perspective, oil is also a non-renewable resource.

Finally, abiotic oil generation says that the composition of oil is complex, but it is mainly hydrocarbons, and the crust itself also contains various hydrocarbons. Due to the difference in density, these hydrocarbons gradually separated from water and other substances and gathered together, thus forming the oil as we know it. Theoretically speaking, abiotic oil generation theory is no problem, but there is no strong evidence to support this view at present, so there are relatively few scientists who support abiotic oil generation theory compared with abiotic oil generation theory. No matter how oil is formed, whether it is coal or oil, it is an important non-renewable energy, so energy conservation is very important.