Facts about Fuel
Charcoal briquettes are now commonly used as a fuel for barbecue cooking.
The radioactive isotopes used as fuel to power nuclear plants were formed in supernova explosions.
Nuclear fuel is any material that is consumed to derive nuclear energy.
Throughout the majority of human history, fuels derived from plants or animal fat were the only ones available for human use.
When the hydrogen fuel is exhausted, nuclear fusion can continue with progressively heavier elements, although the net energy released is lower because of the smaller difference in nuclear binding energy.
All known life forms, from microorganisms to humans, depend on and use fuels as their sources of energy.
Fusion fuels tend to be light elements such as hydrogen which will combine easily.
Fuel releases its energy either through chemical means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.
All currently known fuels ultimately derive their energy from a small number of sources.
Fossil fuels, for example, are thought to have been formed from the remains of living matter, which received its energy from the utilization of solar energy through photosynthesis.
The burning of fossil fuels by humans is the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases that enhances radiative forcing and contributes to global warming.
Fuels that produce energy by the process of nuclear fusion are currently not utilized by man but are the main source of fuel for stars, the most powerful energy sources in nature.
Recently biofuels have been developed for use in automotive transport (for example E10 fuel).
Biomass can also be used directly for heating or power—known as biomass fuel.
The application of energy released from fuels ranges from heating to cooking and from powering weapons to the generation of electricity.
Biofuel can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from biomass.
Biofuel can be produced from any carbon source that can be replenished rapidly, e.g.
Chemical fuels are substances that generate energy by reacting with substances around them, most notably by the process of oxidation.
Modern large-scale industrial development is based on fossil fuel use, which has largely supplanted water-driven mills, as well as the combustion of wood or peat for heat.
All currently known fuels ultimately derive their energy from a small number of sources.
Scientists think that the first use of fuel was the combustion of wood or sticks by Homo erectus about two million years ago.