Question

How does coal produce energy?

Answer 1

Hint:‌ As we know that coal is formed due to the effects of heat and pressure on the dead remains of plant matter that is buried inside the Earth’s surface which turns into a fossil fuel. It generally produces electricity as a result of conversion of chemical energy into thermal, mechanical and finally electrical energy.


Complete answer:
A coal power plant actually burns coal to produce electricity where coal is usually pulverised and then burned into a pulverised coal-fired boiler. The heat from the furnace basically converts the boiler water into steam which is then used for spinning the turbines which turn the generators on.
We should know that the Steam coal or commonly called thermal coal is generally used in the power station where electricity is generated using the coal. Here, coal is first converted to a fine powder that basically increases the surface are allowing it to burn more and more quickly.
Now, the powdered coal is blown into the combustion chamber of a boiler where it is burnt at a high temperature. The hot gases and heat energy which is produced here helps in converting the water in the tubes lining the boiler into the steam.
This steam of high pressure is then passed into a turbine that contains a thousand propeller-like blade and the steam pushes these blades which cause the turbine shaft to rotate with a high speed. At one end of the turbine shaft is placed a generator consisting of wounded wire coils. When these blades are rapidly rotated in a strong magnetic field, electricity is generated which is transformed into higher voltages and thus used for various purposes.
Finally after passing through the turbine, steam is condensed and returned to the boiler for the same cycle.

Note:Always remember that the electricity generated is transformed upto $40,000volts$ and is used for various economic, efficient transmission through power line grids. Also, the thermal coal can either be black or brown which can be pulverised to a fine powder for generation of electrical energy.