Common fossil fuels

Most of the cars driving around use fossil fuels such as petrol, diesel or gas. These fuels are chemicals that transfer energy in the for of heat to their surrounding when they burn. Petrol and diesel are made from crude oil as is kerosine used by planes or nitromethane by racing cars. Wood has been used for a long time a s a fuel but contains less energy and burns much slower than fossil fuels. 

Crude oil is actually a substance which has been in the making for millions of years. Tiny dead animals called zooplankton and plants called phytoplankton drifted to the bottom of the ocean where they were compressed into a liquid by gravity and the weight of the ground covering them. After millions of years this oil was foun by humans and is now rappidly being exhausted.It is expected that within this centuary, we will have used up all the oil on earth.

A pump for crude oil