• Question: is there a way of speeding up the process of making fossil fuels shuch as oil and coal

    Asked by to Ekbal on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ekbal Hussain

      Ekbal Hussain answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Hi!

      That’s a very good question and one that the oil companies would very much like to know.

      Sadly, there is no way we know of at the moment to speed upo the process of making fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are made by, basically cooking dead organic material at special conditions for a long time.

      There is a small window of temperature and pressure in which oil is made. If memory serves me right, the organic material must be buried to a depth no more than about 10km and no less than 1km. And it must then be heated to a certain amount of temperature for at least a few million years.

      So, this will not be the answer to our ever growing energy problems. We’ll need to look towards other sources like wind, sun and nuclear, to fill our energy needs.

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