Let's start by finding out what coal is. Coal is made of the remains of ancient trees and plants that grew in great swampy jungles in warm, moist climates hundreds of millions of years ago.
When these trees and plants died, they fell into the quiet swamp waters, which protected them against rotting. Bacteria changed some parts of the wood to gases that escaped, leaving behind a black mixture, mostly carbon, which was to become a coal seam. In time, thick layers of mud and sand were washed in on top of the vegetation. Pressure from this mud and sand gradually squeezed out most of the liquid, leaving behind a pasty mass that slowly hardened into coal. All this took place anywhere from a million to 250 million years ago.
Energy, the ability to do work, comes from matter. Everything in the world that has mass (or weight) and takes up space is made of matter. Energy and matter are the two things that make up the universe and everything in it.
The matter is made of atoms, and every atom has particles of energy.
Energy holds the parts of an atom together. Matter can be changed into energy and energy into matter, over and over again.
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The energy in coal originally came from the sun. Millions of years ago plants used this energy for chemical transformations necessary for growth, and carbon dioxide from the air was built into carbon compounds that became coal.
The way we release this energy from coal is by using heat. Heat makes atoms and molecules move faster and faster until some of the electrons jump out of them. When coal is burned, it supplies heat energy. The energy was there all the time in a form we call potential energy. The heat releases the stored energy and changes it into kinetic, or working energy.
This is the energy that is used to drive the engines and generators that work for us.
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