Learn Chemistry with Me: Part 1 - Fossils

Assalamu Alaikum. How are you? I hope you are well. I am one of those who joined the Teachers & Students community at the very beginning. This community is a community that I like very much, so I felt that I should do something for it. That is why I am writing about one of my skills in the community: Chemistry. I have completed a B.Sc. in chemistry. However, here, I will write about some aspects of chemistry that everyone can understand.

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I have finalized Fossils as my first topic in the community. First of all, we need to know what fossils are.

What are Fossils?

Fossils are all the animals that have roamed the earth at some point in time and have left the earth long ago, but different parts of their bodies are preserved in the soil layer; these preserved parts of them are fossils. Fossils are formed from a dead body step by step over millions of years by the pressure of different layers of soil, and the heat coming from the bottom of the soil. However, not every animal that dies becomes a fossil. Not all body parts become fossils. Usually, the soft parts of our body, such as tissues, are mixed with the soil layer or eaten by other small microorganisms or parasites. Due to which they do not become fossils. On the other hand, if an animal dies in water or remains in water after death, then they cannot become a fossil.

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How many types of Fossils are there?

According to paleontologists, there are several types of fossils. However, chemistry does not discuss all types of fossils. Only fossils suitable for fuel are the subject of chemistry. So I will discuss only fossils suitable for fuel.

• Coal
• Natural Gas
• Petroleum

Generally, we get three types of fossils suitable for fuel. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Coal is fossils converted of different types of trees. There are coal mines in many places in the world. That is, at some point, due to internal or external reasons, the trees go under the soil layer. Step by step, the amount of this layer increases. Continuous pressure on the layer from the surface above and the heat coming from the inside of the soil change their physical structure. Gradually, they reach the final state, which we identify as fossils. Usually, tree fossils are coal.

Fossils are found under different types of rock layers. Animal fossils are usually converted into natural gas and petroleum. In some places, coal and natural gas, and petroleum can also be found at the same time. We have many places in Bangladesh where coal and gas are found at the same time.

Methane gas is more common among the gases found in nature. However, in some cases, propane and butane gases are also found. These gases are separated using a special chemical method and made suitable for our use.

Petroleum contains all the liquid fuels that we use. All fuels are mixed with petroleum. The fuels are separated through a special purification system. In this way, we get fossil fuels like petrol, diesel, octane, kerosene, etc. from the same mine.

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Uses of Fossils in our life

The use of fossil fuels in our daily lives is immense. We cannot live without fossil fuels at present. There is no sector where fossil fuels are not present directly or indirectly. Fossil fuels are one of the elements of the development of civilization. We cannot imagine our daily life for a moment without fossil fuels.

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Dear readers, that's all for today in my chemistry class. Next week, I will appear with a new, exciting chemistry topic. You can also tell me what topic I should talk about. Everyone be well.

Note	The references in this article come from several books that I have read

• National Text Book of Chemistry for Secondary Education (2009-10). Auth. NTBC
• Higher Secondary Chemistry Part 2. Auth. Hazari and Naag.
• Advanced Chemistry - Organic. Part 1,2,3,4. Auth. Prof. Shahidul Islam.