Coal: formation of deposits. The importance of coal in industry

Mikhailo Lomonosov, the famous Russian scientist of the 18th century, gave a definition of how this mineral was created in nature back in those days. Namely: from the remnants of plants, like peat, there was also coal. His education, according to Lomonosov, was due to several factors. First, the remains of vegetation decomposed without the participation of "free air" (that is, without free access of oxygen). Secondly, there was a fairly high temperature regime. And third, the "burden of the roof," that is, the increased pressure of the rock, played its part. This happened in times immemorial, when humanity did not yet exist on the planet Earth.

Cases of bygone days

In any case, the history of the formation of coal is a matter of such distant days that modern scientists can only build guesses and assumptions, explaining the process. But today it is studied quite accurately. And the mechanisms of how coal appears (its formation from preliminary raw materials) is known to science.

From peat

Wastes from higher plants gradually turn into peat masses, which accumulate in marshy areas and overgrow with other plants, gradually disappearing into the depths. Being at depth, peat bogs constantly change their chemical composition (more complex compounds turn into simpler ones, disintegrate). Some of them can be dissolved in water and washed out, and some passes into a gaseous state. So there is methane and carbon dioxide in the marshes, giving a characteristic smell of air in these deserted places. An important function in this process is performed by fungi and bacteria, which contribute to the further decomposition of the tissue of the dead plants.

Carbon

With time, the most stable hydrocarbon compounds accumulate in the peat bogs in the course of the occurring modifications. And since all this saturation of peat masses with a hydrocarbon is carried out with little or no access to oxygen, carbon does not turn into gas and does not volatilize. There is isolation from air access and simultaneous saturation with increasing pressure effects: from coal there is coal. Its formation lasts hundreds of millennia, this process is not so fast! According to scientists, most of the current reserves and coal seams originated in the Paleozoic, that is, more than 300 million years ago.

It's interesting: what are the types of coal?

• The friest and youngest of all species is lignite (which means "woody"). Remains of plant masses and wood are still visible in it. In principle, lignite is wood peat.
• Brown species of coal is formed in the seams with stronger decomposition of plant residues. It usually lies at a depth of one kilometer. It still has a lot of liquid (more than 40%). It burns quite well, but gives a small amount of heat.
• At a depth of three kilometers in many parts of the world is coal. Its formation from the brown fossil species occurs only under certain conditions: when the layers descend to deeper horizons and the process of mountain building takes place. There, under high pressure and without access to oxygen, the process of transition from one faction to another is being completed. Such coal has in its composition more than 75% of carbon, burns better and gives more heat.
• Anthracite is the coal of older rocks. It lies at a depth of five kilometers. It has even more carbon and even less moisture (almost none at all). It is not very flammable, but the heat output is the highest of all kinds. In anthracite, the remains of the plants from which it occurred can not be detected. Such coal is considered the most promising in mining for industry.

But that is not all!

Nature ordered that anthracite, in itself the most dense coal with the highest carbon content (95 percent or more), is not the final stage of transformations that occur with plant remains in the environment. Shungite - a substance that is formed from coal under even more severe conditions. Graphite occurs at high temperatures from the same material. And if you add super-high pressure, then a diamond is formed, the most durable substance, which has both industrial and artistic value for the whole of mankind.

But remember: oddly enough, all these seemingly different substances - from plants to diamonds - consist of a substance of carbon, only with a different structure at the molecular level!

The formation and importance of hard coal

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of coal for the development of industry and, in general, for the entire human culture on Earth. And the scope of its application is very wide. Not to mention the fact that coal is an excellent fuel used for heating homes, furnaces for furnaces in industry, for generating electricity, and for coal, they also extract a lot of substances necessary for people. Sulfur and vanadium, zinc and lead, germanium - all this gives mankind this mineral.

Coal is used for melting metal, steel, cast iron. Products of coal combustion - in the production of some building materials. In special processing of fossil from it, benzene is obtained, which is used in the production of varnishes and solvents, such building material as linoleum. From liquid coal liquefied by special technologies, liquid fuel emerges for the mechanisms. Coal is the raw material for the production of graphite and technical diamonds, and on the basis of this natural material, more than four hundred products are manufactured for the industry and the service sector.

The natural sciences at school: the formation of hard coal

For children, when passing the appropriate topic in the middle classes, it is recommended to talk about the formation of coal in nature in an accessible form. It should be reported how long this process lasts. Describing the formation of coal in short, we need to emphasize its significance for the development of industry and progress in modern and historical conditions, draw up a communication plan that the students will do independently.