7B+Coal+Power

By: Ayush and Austin 7B
Coal is a hard black sedimentary rock that is made from chemical bonds in fossil fuels, and dead plants. When the plants face hot temperatures and pressure, it creates a chemical change in the plant. Due to the chemical change the plants turn into peat which turns into coal over time.  There are a few steps you have to go through for coal transformation. The first step is to shred the coal into powder which will make the surface area of the coal bigger and make it easier the burn, then the shredded coal is sent into the combustion chamber where it is burned. The h eat created from the burning coal turns the water in the piping into steam, then the steam is pushed into turbines. The steam causes the turbines to turn. On the other end of the turbine shaft there is a generator with huges coils of wire around a magnet, the spinning magnet creates electricity that is then pushed out to homes through wire s. The materials used in this process are conveyer belts, pulverizers, boilers, stacks, water purifiers, water condensers, turbines, generators, wires, a magnet, and a transformer.
 * How Does a Coal Power Plant Work? **

The top ten consumers for coal in the world are China, America, India, Russia, Germany, South Africa, Japan, Australia, North Korea, and Ukraine in that order. China consumes 1,310,000,000 tons of coal annually and the world consumes 4,558,273,000 tons annually . Coal produces 41% of the worlds total electricity. In Africa, the countries that use coal are South Africa at 170,500,000 tons annually, Egypt at 2,200,000 tons annually, Nigeria at 70,000 tons annually, and Ghana at 3,000 tons annually.
 * How Widespread is Coal Power? **

Coal is quite efficient, producing 42% of the worlds electricity, however it sends out a lot of pollution. A regular 500 MW power plant produces about 3.5 million KWH annually, which is about enough electricity to power 4 million light bulbs annually. However to produce 3.5 million KWH annually you have to burn 1.43 million tons of coal annually, or three 100-car train loads of coal. In 2008 a 500 MW power plant cost $1.2 billion US.
 * How efficient is Coal Power? **


 * The Benefits and Drawbacks of Coal Power **


 * Benefits:
 * Cheap
 * Highly productive
 * Easily turned into heat energy
 * Produces energy worldwide
 * Easily found
 * Easily distributed worldwide
 * easily stored || Drawbacks:
 * Causes major global warming
 * Releases carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury
 * Wastes water
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not renewable
 * Rapidly disappearing because it is a limited resource || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 125%;">Environmental Issues: * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Causes acid rain
 * Makes holes in the ozone Layer
 * Mining release deadly gases
 * Makes the climate warmer
 * Heats up the Earth
 * Causes Nitrogen Oxide
 * Produces Radioactive elements ||

In our opinion the use of coal will decrease over a long period of time because it is a limited source, since the remaining world supply of coal will only last for another 118 years. Coal power will be less widespread. Since coal will be decreasing it will become rare making it more expensive. This will make the bills more expensive, making the coal companies go out of business. If the human population increases then the demand of coal will increase. Experts say that in the next 20 years the demand of coal will increase by 53%. If there is a decrease in another method the usage of this method will increase because it is cheap and really efficient and it will easily substitute the other method. However if another method increases coal power might decrease, depending on what the other method is. If the other method is ECO Friendly then coal power will decrease, but if the other method is more polluting then coal then it will increase. In the future coal power will decrease since it is a limited resource it will disappear in a while.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Role In The Future **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Bibliography

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Pictures: @http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/coal-electricity/ [] @http://thephoenixsun.com/archives/6548 @http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/coal-mining/

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Information: @http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/coal-electricity/ [] [] [] @http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/03/cheap-coal/appenzeller-text/2