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Fuel is a material that makes energy. People use fuels to heat and cool buildings. We also use fuels to cook food and make electricity. And fuels are used to run the engines in cars, airplanes, and other machines. Most fuels make the energy by burning with the oxygen in air.

Image to left: Coal is used mainly to make electricity. Credit: World Book illustration by Stephen Brayfield, Artisan-Chicago

Some fuels, like coal, petroleum, and natural gas, are called fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are found in areas underground and were formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals. Almost all the energy people use today comes from fossil fuels.

Some fuels are made in factories. These fuels are called synthetic fuels.

There are five groups of fuels: solid fuels, liquid fuels, gas fuels, chemical fuels, and nuclear fuels.

Solid fuels include coal, peat, and biomass. Coal is used mainly to make electricity. It is burned to make heat. The heat turns water into steam. The steam is used to turn special machines called turbines. The turbines make electricity.

Image to right: Petroleum is turned into such fuels as gasoline. Credit: World Book illustration by Stephen Brayfield, Artisan-Chicago

Peat is made up of partly decayed plants. It is found mostly in swamps called bogs.

Biomass is material made by plants or animals. Wood, garbage, and animal manure are examples of biomass.

Image to left: Natural gas can be used for cooking. Credit: World Book illustration by Stephen Brayfield, Artisan-Chicago

Liquid fuels are made mainly from petroleum. Petroleum is also called crude oil. Most petroleum is turned into such fuels as gasoline, diesel oil, and kerosene.

Synthetic liquid fuels are made from coal, natural gas, and biomass. They are also made from oil shale, which is rock that has oil in it. Or, they may be made from a special type of sand.

Image to right: Chemical fuel is used to launch rockets. Credit: World Book illustration by Stephen Brayfield, Artisan-Chicago

Gas fuels include natural and manufactured gases. Natural gas is mostly methane. Methane is a gas that has no color or odor.

Chemical fuels can be solid or liquid. They can produce great amounts of heat and power. Chemical fuels are used mostly for rocket engines.

Nuclear fuels are made from the breaking apart or the putting together of atoms. (Atoms are one of the basic units of matter. Everything is made up of atoms.) Nuclear fuels are used mainly to make electricity.

Image to left: Nuclear fuels are used mainly to make electricity. Credit: World Book illustration by Stephen Brayfield, Artisan-Chicago

How to cite this article: To cite this article, World Book recommends the following format: "Fuel." The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 2005.

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