Fossil fuel: Difference between revisions

A '''fossil fuel'''{{efn|The term has been considered a [[misnomer]] because it does not actually originate from [[fossils]], but from organic matter.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fleckenstein |first=Joseph E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-SYCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |publisher=CRC Press |title=Three-phase electrical power |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-4987-3778-4 |location=Boca Raton |pages=58 |oclc=958799795}}</ref>}} is a [[carbon compound]]- or [[hydrocarbon]]-containing material such as [[coal]], [[petroleum|oil]], and [[natural gas]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Fossil fuel |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/fossil_fuel.htm |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=[[ScienceDaily]]}}</ref> formed naturally in the [[Earth's crust]] from the remains of [[prehistoric]] [[organism]]sorganisms ([[animal]]sanimals, [[plant]]splants and [[plankton]]s), a process that occurs within [[geological formation]]s. Reservoirs of such compound mixtures can be [[resource extraction|extract]]edextracted and [[combustion|burned]] as a [[fuel]] for [[human]] [[consumption (economics)|consumption]] to provide [[heat]] for direct use (such as for [[cooking]] or [[heating]]), to power [[heat engine]]s (such as [[steam engine|steam]] or [[internal combustion engine]]s) that can propel [[vehicle]]svehicles, or to [[electricity generation|generate electricity]] via [[steam turbine]] [[electric generator|generator]]sgenerators.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.gsi.ie/en-ie/education/earth-resources/Pages/Fossil-fuels.aspx |title=Fossil fuels |publisher=Geological Survey Ireland |access-date=29 October 2021}}</ref>
Some fossil fuels are further [[refinery|refine]]drefined into [[derivative (chemistry)|derivative]]sderivatives such as [[kerosene]], [[gasoline]] and [[diesel fuel|diesel]].