Question about Fossil Fuels

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This is about to be the dumbest question ever

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Not really, but bad enough.

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do fossil fuels only come from freaking dinosaurs?

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No.

Fossil fuels consist of buried organic matter under specific circumstances over periods of time. Think of it as a biochemical battery containing stored sunshine from millions of years ago.

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Think of it as a biochemical battery containing stored sunshine from millions of years ago.

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I love that! Please tell me you teach science to 8 year old girls somewhere!!

Plus. Why exactly do all these AGW weirdos call them “non renewable” resources if it is essentially recycled material that the earth forms after millions of years???

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Why exactly do all these AGW weirdos call them “non renewable” resources if it is essentially recycled material that the earth forms after millions of years??

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Well, because we can't actually "renew" them ourselves and from our perspective, the quantities might be vast, but ultimately finite.

As opposed to wind, solar, geothermal, hydro electric, tidal, gravitational, which are all effectively infinite as long as the planet remains intact, in orbit around the Sun in its current energy state - billions of years.

Technically, nuclear is "non-renewable" as well, as we would eventually run out of radioactive material without some sort of revolutionary discovery (of course a similar discovery could also allow us to manufacture a fossil fuel
equivalent, but I digress).

But nuclear and fossil are the only power sources upon which we can rely to satisfy industrial level demand. The others are merely grid support (or even notional/hypothetical at this point) at this time, although that is improving by the year.

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Plus. Why exactly do all these AGW weirdos call them “non renewable” resources if it is essentially recycled material that the earth forms after millions of years???

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I guess technically they are renewable if you wait long enough, but realistically we're using them at a much faster rate than they're forming so as far as you, your children, your children's children, and humanity is concerned, they are non renewable.

We should be looking for new technologies because they will not last forever, not because of global warming.

That makes it even better

There are biotic and abiotic forms of O&G. Mainstream science subscribes to the biotic form of O&G called fossil fuels with the obvious implication that O&G originated from previous life forms. All life forms, from microorganisms to plants and animals.

The abiotic theory suggests that O&G are produced from inorganic carbonaceous rock, hydrogen, pressure and time. The two main atoms in O&G are carbon and hydrogen. Under the right geologic circumstances these carbon and hydrogen atoms can combine to form the simplest hydrocarbon, methane (I.e., natural gas you use in your house). Abiotic theory has a lot of support because it’s a good explanation to describe the existence of hydrocarbons on other planets and moons in our solar system where life forms do not exist.


To expand further we call crude oil crude because it contains all the constituent molecules from small to large. When you drill a oil well you get everything. Some well produce mostly gas and are called gas wells. Some produce mostly oil and are called oil wells. Usually you get everything. Oil, water and gas.

The smallest hydrocarbon is methane. It has one carbon and 4 hydrogens, CH4.

Next is ethane. It has two carbons and 6 hydrogens, C2H6. We never use ethane as a fuel in our daily lives because it is used to make ethylene which is further used to make polyethylene and other plastics.

The next molecule is propane. It has three carbons. You use propane on your gas grill and it says a liquid at 125 psi and about 80 degrees.

The next molecule is butane and iso-butane. They have four carbons. About 10% of your gasoline during the winter months you put in your car is butane. Once spring rolls around blenders remove the butane because of the high evaporation rate during the hot summer months.

The next molecule is pentane. It has five carbons. This is typically gasoline.

Then hexane or cyclohexane...6 carbon...in gasoline.

Then heptane...7 carbons...in gasoline.

Then octane...8 carbons...in gasoline.

Then nonane and dectane...9 and 10 carbons...in diesel, kerosene and jet fuel.

Then your asphaltics....many carbons...in your roads and tires.

There are many more molecules in crude but that’s just the basics. These molecules are typically separated by their boiling points in refineries through distillation. That’s those big tall columns you see when you pass by a refinery.

YouTubes

Did anyone actually answer the question?