Coal: A Source Of Energy

coal is mostly carbon when coal is burned the carbon releases energy in the form of heat but coal most complex of all rocks also contains many chemical compounds which can be used to make a host of new materials to understand the nature of coal one must go back to its origin solar energy hundreds of millions of years ago coal was plant life the sun provided the energy as it does today to make plants live and grow the climate was hot and damp and thick forests of trees Ferns and Reeds grew in great abundance [Music] as the Earth's surface changed the sea flowed over the land and the vegetation was covered with the sediment of the sea the sea flowed over the land many times and many layers of plants were buried these layers were compressed by tremendous pressures and thus the plant material which millions of years ago had stored the sun's energy slowly took its present form it became coal today coal is found in 34 of our 50 states in a few areas there is a coal called lignite it has a relatively low heat content where pressure and temperature in the Earth's crust were extreme there is anthracite or hard coal however most of our deposits are bituminous or soft coal by far the most abundant and the most useful of all [Music] coals this is binous coal mining country where today man is at work claiming an ancient Legacy most of our Cal is mined Underground through tunnels dug deep in the earth as the mine is worked coal is first recovered from the main entries and work [Music] rooms pillars of coal are left standing as the main support of the roof later to mine as much Cal as possible the pillars are removed the pillars are the last recoverable coal and after they are mined the section will be [Music] closed no this is not a prehistoric monster not a throwback to the age when Cole was born it is one of the highly efficient machines that make the American coal miner by far the most productive in the world the cutting machine saws a slot in the coal scene so that later the coal can be blasted safely and more effectively then a drilling machine LS holes deep into the face of the seene for the explosives that will blast loose the [Music] coal I [Music] i y coold by the ton loosened from its milliony old bed scooped up by the loading machine in minutes to begin its Journey out of the mile other mines use other Tech Tech and Equipment this is one type of continuous Miner continuously without breaking stride this machine rips the coal out of the seam at the amazing rate of 5 tons per minute or more as the machine mov moves into the coal it also drives steel bolts into the overlying Rock layers to support the roof this car it's called a shuttle car takes the coold to large mine cars which carry it out of the mine [Music] while mechanized Giants work the seams of underground mines a far larger species crawls the face of the Earth not all mining is done underground where coal lies near the surface big shovels this one is 20 stories tall scoop away the Earth and rock to uncover the coal ahead of the shovel a blast drill BS holes down to the coal seam into these holes go explosives especially made for Safe Handling and then the explosion loosening Earth and rock so that the shovel can go to [Music] work the bucket of this shovel can lift in a single bite more than 200 tons surface mining reaches coal which could not be mined effectively by other methods and so uncovers large supplies which otherwise would be lost to man's use the fingertips of one man controlling thousands of horsepower millions of pounds of steel [Music] the push button Miner has brought the electronic gauge to coal mining its heart is a remote control boring machine which tunnels some 800 ft into the coal scene the boring machine pulls after it a string of conveyor sections on wheels which are parked on a spiral ramp three stories high the conveyors pass the coal out of the mine one man watching these radar likee screens controls the entire operation the coal industry recognizes a civic responsibility the land must be reclaimed replanted given new value by putting it to the best possible [Music] use where once coal was mined fine crops grow [Music] again grazing lands are [Music] developed new parks and wildlife areas new beaches trees and flowers Beauty and the story of coal continues from the mine most coal goes to a preparation plant to be tailored to water this is a vast Labyrinth of automated conveyors screens and other equipment here an unending River of coal is separated from its impurities crushed sized washed dried and blend each car load leaving the plant is just what the customer ordered the right kind of coal the right blend coal on the Moon by Rail and by water moving coal is the biggest transportation job in the world and as in mining new methods of handling more coal at greater speeds are reducing Coal's cost to the customers on inland waterways toes of big barges carry coal along the kaawa river the Mississippi The manong Gila the Ohio and deliver it to the industrial Heart Of The [Music] Nation at Great Lakes ports the speedy and effici efficient transfer of coal from rail to water also reduces the cost of coal here coal by the carload is dumped into ships for consumers in duth Superior Milwaukee and the Upper Midwest coal is the power behind electric power America's Electric utilities use about half of all cold produced and they're doubling their output every 10 years to meet the nation's phenomenal thirst for energy and as the electric industry plans and builds the many new stations it needs to satisfy that growing demand it designs most of them to be powered by [Music] coal electricity from coal and steel because of coal high quality coal baked in these airtight ovens turns into Coke about 90% carbon Coke is used in Blast furnaces to convert iron ore into pig iron essential in making steel about a ton of coal is used for every ton of Steel produced coal that gives us electric power coal to make steel coal contributing to many products of Industry that Coal also brings us [Music] [Music] Comfort but where is the coal indeed coal is invisible part mechanically fed in this fully automatic burner from Bend to great here the nuisance of cold dust and the cost of handfire in are As Dead As yesterday's ashes there are many kinds of coal and Research delves into their differing characteristics usefulness and future slice a [Applause] sample grind it thinner than a human hair and you begin to see that coal is a mixture of many substances put it under the microscope and you find that coal is not black but red Brown gold analyze what you see and you can predict how each kind of coal will react as extreme heat begins to release the age-old energy of the [Music] sun progress through research is the Hallmark of the modern coal industry industry it is because of achievements thus obtained that coal today is woven throughout almost all segments of everyday living coal is power coal is heat coal is [Music] light coal is a highly complex structure it is almost like the universe the more we learn about it the more we wonder about its ultimate potential it may well be Limitless oh [Music] [Music] [Music] what a