ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

Science 5: One More Look at the Fossil Fuel Cycle 3 Views


Share It!


Description:

We'd like to meet the first person to think, "Hey, let's dig up a decomposing dinosaur and use it to power our cars." We'd be willing to bet they were an odd duck.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Dino and Coop singing]

00:13

By now, we have a pretty good idea what fossil fuels are: nonrenewable energy resources that [Nodding donkey oil pump]

00:18

come from decomposed bodies that are hundreds of millions of years old.

00:22

Simple enough!

00:23

Also, kinda gross!

00:24

But do we know the process it took to get from the original forms of life to fossil fuels? [Boy in a lab using a microscope]

00:30

It's a pretty complicated, delicate recipe.

00:31

Seriously, it's way more difficult than the recipe for even the fanciest of cakes.

00:36

Plus, it takes a few billion years, which is a lot longer than most kitchen timers can measure.

00:41

It all started billions of years ago, when the only living things on Earth were tiny

00:45

little bacteria that lived in the ocean. [Bacteria floating round in the ocean]

00:48

In time, those bacteria made their way to the surface of the ocean…

00:50

…and with the help of energy from the sun, they eventually evolved into green plants.

00:55

These plants made some big changes.

00:58

Unlike humans and other animals, who inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, plants do [Bear breathing in oxygen]

01:03

the opposite.

01:04

They take in carbon dioxide, and release oxygen.

01:08

So over millions of years, all of these green plants gradually released more and more oxygen…

01:13

…until there was enough oxygen for animals like us to survive. [Tree giving off oxygen with birds flying above]

01:17

You might not like Brussels sprouts, but you owe their ancestors your life.

01:23

Maybe send them a Hallmark card, or something.

01:25

These plants did more than just create oxygen, though.

01:27

They also made carbon chains, which animals would then eat.

01:31

So after a while, there were a whole bunch of carbon chains all over the place.

01:35

When these plants and animals died, some of them, and their carbon chains, would get buried [Dinosaur collapses onto the floor]

01:39

under stuff like rocks, dirt, or silt.

01:42

And over millions of years, a mix of pressure from above…

01:44

…and heat from below turned these carbon chains into fossil fuels.

01:49

And sure, a puddle of oil is nowhere near as appetizing as a birthday cake, but that's [Cake tray is removed from an oven]

01:53

why it's always important to check your recipe before you start baking.

Up Next

ELA 5: How to Spot Bias
3247 Views

Check out the best bias video ever made, courtesy of the most awesome and amazing educational website in existence.

Related Videos

Social Studies 5: Impeachment
1011 Views

No, this isn't a terrible new mint-peach bubble gum flavor...though it does tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Social Studies 5: Jamestown
335 Views

Those settlers in Jamestown really should have settled down with all that land-stealing. Tobacco's bad for you anyway.

Social Studies 5: The Birth of Canada
199 Views

Being born out of multiple wars doesn't quite seem to fit the peaceful, polite Canadians we know and love today...oh wait, they were called The Bea...

Social Studies 5: How to Analyze a Political Cartoon
636 Views

Not every cartoon is meant to entertain small children while their mother gets some "Mommy time." There are also political cartoons, which are mean...