How do we turn fossil fuels into energy?
Coal, oil and natural gas are all fossil fuels and non-renewable energy types
Soon natural gas will be used in all of Northern Ireland’s power stations.
It is found under the sea bed, for instance in the North Sea, off the coast of Scotland, and Norway, or in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of County Mayo in Ireland.
- A natural gas pipeline pumps the gas to a power station.
- Combustion chambers fire hot compressed air into the gas.
- The gas burns and its chemical energy changes to heat energy.
- The hot gas heats the air which gets hotter and expands.
- Heat energy changes to kinetic energy as the expanding hot air is pushed through pipes to the turbines.
- The hot air turns turbines.
- Finally, the spinning turbines turn generators which convert kinetic energy into electricity.
The main energy changes are:
- Chemical energy \(\rightarrow\) heat energy (as the gas burns).
- Heat energy \(\rightarrow\) kinetic energy (as the hot air rotates the turbine).
- Kinetic energy \(\rightarrow\) electrical energy (as the generator spins).