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Community Corner

Is There a Dinosaur in Your Gas Tank?

What are Fossil Fuels?

We hear the term “fossil fuels” tossed around on a regular basis. Most of us know that there is a limited supply of fossil fuels on earth and that we depend on them for most of the energy that currently fuels our society, but do you ever wonder what they really are?

Are we burning wooly mammals and fossilized T. Rex bones to light our houses and run our dishwashers?

That would be a preschooler’s dream, but isn’t the reality of fossil fuels. In fact, fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas are mainly composed of the chemical remains of ancient plants, algae and plankton, although there may be a few bigger fish or insects in the mix. Every time you fill your car with gas, you’re topping your tank with organic compounds called hydrocarbons that come from plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

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One way to define an organic compound is as a molecule, or combination of atoms, that contains carbon.

Living things contain a number of organic compounds including sugars, fats, proteins and DNA, which all contain carbon combined with other things like nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen.

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Millions of years ago, before the age of dinosaurs, large parts of the earth were covered with large swamps containing trees, ferns and other plants. The water and seas were filled with algae and plankton. As plants and animals died, they sank to the bottom of swamps and seas, taking their carbon molecules along with them.

Eventually, the dead organisms were covered with clay and sand and other minerals, which eventually turned to sedentary rock. As they were buried deeper and deeper, the remains were subjected to extreme heat and pressure, resulting in the formation of simple organic compounds called hydrocarbons, which give off large amounts of energy when you burn them.

Coal, oil or even natural gas was formed by the pressurized remains, depending on the percentage of plants and animals and whether the remains were from the sea, freshwater or a bog.

Burning fossil fuel for energy, or combustion, frees the carbon from its hydrogen atoms, releasing it back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, along with other gases, soot and chemicals like sulfur that may have been trapped in the fuel. As “greenhouse gases” like carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere, they can trap heat, but that’s a story for another day.

And, who knows? There may a trace of some giant, prehistoric fish or six foot-long deadly poisonous centipede in your gas tank. That's almost as much fun as a dinosaur.

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