The educational resource shows information about the coal: coal is a light, black substance which comes from the fossilization of vegetable matter. Coal is used as an industrial fuel, in power stations and in home heating. There are 4 types of coal: anthracite, bituminous coal, lignite and peat.You can see how they are formed in the following animation.

Energy from fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) comes from substances which originated from the accumulation, millons of years ago, of large quantities of remains of living beings at the bottom of lakes and other sedimentary depressions. By clicking on the following controls you can learn more about each one of these fuels.