Natural Gas
Alexandra
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What is natural gas?
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What is it made out of?
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Where do we get it?
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How do we use it?
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What are the pros and cons?
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What is the latest news
Natural gas is a fossil fuel. A fossil fuel is energy that
comes from decaying plants and animals. When they are buried into the earth for
hundreds of millions of years, heat and pressure combined break the carbon
forms, and it forms oil, coal and natural gas.
Natural gas is made out of 70%-90% Methane, up to 8% Carbon
dioxide, up to 0.2% Oxygen, up to 5% Nitrogen, up to 5% Hydrogen sulfide, a
teensy weensy little bit of rare gases (helium, neon, xenon, and argon), and up
to 20% of Ethane, Butane, and Propane.
We use natural gas for electricity, heating homes, and
cooking foods. The way we generate electricity is by burning it. The heat from
burning the gas warms up water, which turns into steam. Because hot air rises,
the steam rises, and in that process turns turbine blades (similar to those of
a fan). Those blades spin a magnet wrapped in coils of wire, which generate
electricity.
Pros:
The
advantages with natural gas are that it doesn’t emit as much carbon dioxide and
smoke when burned, and it is easy to burn.
Cons:
Some
disadvantages, are that it still does emit CO2 and smoke, and it can
catch on fire even when you don’t want it to.
Recently, natural gas tanks have exploded near Dallas,
Texas. A place that sells liquid natural gas had an explosion. Debris that was
on fire was sent flying onto highways and buildings.