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misgfool
Main Question or Discussion Point
Why is it classified as a fossil fuel?
So uranium is a fossil fuel?Because it is dug up from the ground.
Fossils (from Latin fossus, literally "having been dug up")
So how old does ex-living stuff have to be to become a fossil?Fossil fuel usually means the buried remains of living stuff - peat is 10,000 old trees.
Peat is what you had millions of years *before* it became a fossil fuel, such as coal.Fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are found within the rocks of the Earth's surface. They are called fossil fuels because they are thought to have been formed many millions of years ago by geological processes acting on dead animals and plants, just like fossils.
Coal, oil and natural gas are fossil fuels. Because they took millions of years to form, once they are used up they cannot be replaced.
http://www.scienceonline.co.uk/energy/nonrenewable.htmlAs time passed, layer upon layer of peat built up. The pressure from these layers and heat from below the Earth's crust gradually changed the material into coal.
That's actually a good answer.Peat is not a fossil fuel, not by definition, although some people are now trying to call it an "un-renewable" fuel source, although it does renew. Political agencies are now classifying peat as a fossil fuel because in some areas it it possible to use up a local supply faster than it can renew. It is a classification for economic purpopses. That doesn't change the fact that it is not the same.