Combustible material, such as coal, lignite, oil,
peat, and
natural gas, formed from the fossilized remains of plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Such fuels are
non-renewable resources once they are burnt, they cannot be replaced.
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons (they contain atoms of carbon and hydrogen). They generate large quantities of heat when they burn in air, a process known as combustion. In this process carbon and hydrogen combine with oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide, water vapour, and heat.
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