write in brief about the origin of coal
Answers
Explanation:
A Brief History of Coal. ... Coal is formed from peat following the pressure of rocks laid down on top. Much of the world's first coal was formed during the Pennsylvanian Epoch (Carboniferous Period) from the remains of plants that lived and died millions of years ago in tropical wetlands.
Answer:
Jobs
Login/Register
Shortlist
Get hired_
Posts > Blog > A Brief History of Coal
Blogs by category
View all
Blog
Case Study
Company News
Travel Guides
Testimonial
Tag Cloud
Recruitment
Contract Recruitment
Permanent Recruitment
UK
WRS
Candidate Advice
Global Mobility
Oil & Gas
Europe
APAC
RELATED ARTICLES
Question: Are you unhappy at work?
Question: Are you unhappy at work?
You spend more time at your job—as much as one third of your days according to some sources—than just about ...
Posted by: Ruth McKinney
02/05/19
Read more
Inside recruitment with Richard
Inside recruitment with Richard
Richard Baillie-GrayRichard Baillie-Gray, Contract Manager – Energy Division Describe your career path at WRS so ...
Posted by: Mark Burslem
18/04/19
Read more
A Brief History of Coal
Posted by: Megan Whitehurst
14/07/17
Coal. A black, hard rock, sometimes so shiny it could pass as silver or a light grey, and other times sooty as night. Coal. Coal is made up of 65-95% carbon, and further includes hydrogen, sulphur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed from peat following the pressure of rocks laid down on top. Much of the world’s first coal was formed during the Pennsylvanian Epoch (Carboniferous Period) from the remains of plants that lived and died millions of years ago in tropical wetlands. In this form, coal is a sedimentary rock; however, anthracite coal, in all its hard, glossy shine, is a metamorphic rock, due to being exposed to more intense temperatures and pressures. Anthracite coal is often the highest quality coal. Anthracite is primarily mined by China, with their global output exceeding 75%.
The origin of humankind’s relationship with coal is, inevitably, sketchy given the simple stark lack of technology or knowledge compared with that which exists today. However, in the Americas some of the first instances of coal utilisation date back to the Aztecs, who used coal for fuel. In Europe, the Romans turned Britain into a 2nd Century A.D. coal hotbed, seeking to exploit as much of Roman Britain’s coalfields as possible. Archaeological excavation over the following centuries has discovered the remnants of coal stores at numerous forts along the famous Hadrian’s Wall. The nearby fort, Longovicium, houses evidence of the Romans having a smelting industry set up in Northern England.
Before the Romans became interested in the early coal industry, Greek Scientist Theophrastus wrote the following of coal in his text, On Stones:
Among the materials that are dug because they are useful, those known as coals are made of earth, and, once set on fire, they burn like charcoal. They are found in Liguria... and in Elis as one approaches Olympia by the mountain road; and they are used by those who work in metals.
As far as historians and archaeologists know, Theophrastus’s words were among the very first that noted the use of coal in metalworking.
The Chinese, though, are suspected to have been involved in the surface mining of coal as far back as 3490 B.C.
Some of the early forms of coal mining include drift mining, which will often involve a horizontal passageway that follows the bed of coal, or an ore vein, for instance; bell pit mining; and shaft mining, which would often incorporate the “room and pillar” operating technique. Rarely did the mining operations of two millennia ago exhaust a mine’s resource mass. Whether this was due to operational profligacy or a reluctance to metaphorically “drain the lake” remains to be seen.
Coal in Britain became far less prevalent a resource following the decline of the Roman Empire until the Industrial Revolution, whose apex hinged on the mass availability of coal to power intrepid steam engines, heat buildings, and not long after, begin being used to generate electricity. The Victorian era welcomed a sizeable increase in international trade thanks to the coal-fed steam engines being used for rail and steamship travel. Around the year 1905, the U.K. and the U.S.A. were leading the way for coal production in so far as declared numbers were concerned. The U.K. at this time was responsible for approximately 236.1 million short tons; America for 350.8 million.
Coal’s rise to prominence in the Industrial Revolution was not simply about mass availability, however. It was also a cheap resource, and came with the promise of yielding more energy than material rivals such as wood. Given the extreme shifts in weather and climate since the Pennsylvanian Epoch, 298.9 million years ago, landscapes have shifted – localities of readily available wood and readily available coal can often be separate.