Coal

Coal is a [fossil fuel]? extracted from the ground by mining. It is a form of carbon and hydrocarbons along with assorted other elements including sulfur. Coal is primarily used as a solid fuelto produce heat by burning, which produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases along with [sulfuric acid]?, or [acid rain]?. In electricty generation, the heat is used to create steam which then is used to power turbine generators.

Coal is formed by millions of years of intense pressure on decaying biological material. It is suspected that it comes primarily from swamp plants, like peat (one reason that coal was relatively common in Britain). It is also believed that all coal was formed during the (conniferous?) era.

/History of coal mining.

/Major? coal producing regions.

/Major? coal exporters.

/Graph? of worldwide coal extraction over the last N hundred years.

/Coal? mining techniques.

Also a colour.