Fossil Fuel Quiz



4 Min Quiz

Image: refer to hsw

About This Quiz

They run our cars, generate our electricity, heat our homes, and mess with our climate. They're fossil fuels, and boy do we love 'em. Test your knowledge about these combustibles with this quiz.

What fossil fuel supplies more than half of the U.S.'s electricity?

Coal, through the magic of coal-fired power plants.


Why are fossil fuels called "fossil fuels"?

Fossil fuels are made of dead stuff. They're what's left over hundreds of millions of years after a bunch of plants, animals, and other organisms died and decomposed and got squished up in the Earth's crust.


What does pure natural gas smell like?

Natural gas has no smell. That nasty stink is added so you'll notice a leak before it explodes. Unless you have no sense of smell. In which case you're kind of out of luck.


How do fossil fuels change the climate?

Burning anything -- coal, oil, gas, pianos, beets -- releases carbon dioxide, which goes into the atmosphere and warms the Earth, causing global warming and other kinds of climate change.


True or false: Carbon dioxide is the only problem created by burning fossil fuels.

Ha! No. Don't forget about good, old-fashioned air pollution.


The Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound. Where did that oil come from?

It came from the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope and traveled to Valdez in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline before being loaded onto the ship.


Oil wells bring up crude oil, which is then refined into more useful products. Which of these is not made by refining crude oil?

Natural gas -- it comes out of the ground that way.


What are the top five oil-producing countries in the world?

The top five oil-producing countries in the world are Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.S., Iran and China. More than a quarter of the U.S.'s oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico.


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