TEXTS FOR ADDITIONAL READING AND UNDERSTANDING
TEXT 1
IMPORTANCE
Vocabulary
|
to run |
приводить в действие |
|
furnace ['fɜːnɪs] |
горн; очаг; печь |
|
ore [ɔː] |
руда |
|
semi-solid |
полутвёрдый |
|
seep [si:p] |
выход; высачивание |
|
waterproofing |
водонепроницаемость |
|
embalm [ɪm'bɑːm ] |
бальзамировать, мумифицировать |
|
replacement [rɪ'pleɪsmənt] |
замена, замещение |
|
whale oil |
китовый жир |
Fossil fuels are of great importance because they can be burned (oxidized to carbon dioxide and water), producing significant amounts of energy. The use of coal as a fuel predates recorded history. Coal was used to run furnaces for the melting of metal ore. Semi-solid hydrocarbons from seeps were also burned in ancient times, but these materials were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming.
Commercial exploitation of petroleum, largely as a replacement for oils from animal sources (notably whale oil) for use in oil lamps began in the nineteenth century.
Natural gas, once flared-off as an un-needed byproduct of petroleum production, is now considered a very valuable resource.
Heavy crude oil, which is much more viscous than conventional crude oil, and tar sands, where bitumen is found mixed with sand and clay, are becoming more important as sources of fossil fuel. Oil shale and similar materials are sedimentary rocks containing kerogen, a complex mixture of high-molecular weight organic compounds, which yield synthetic crude oil when heated (pyrolyzed). These materials have yet to be exploited commercially. These fuels are employed in internal combustion engines, fossil fuel power stations and other uses.
Prior to the latter half of the eighteenth century, windmills or watermills provided the energy needed for industry such as milling flour, sawing wood or pumping water, and burning wood or peat provided domestic heat. The wide-scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, to fire steam engines, enabled the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use. The invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil, both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft also required fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity and the petrochemical industry. Tar, a leftover of petroleum extraction, is used in construction of roads.