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Re: [Phys-l] Climate Change - Is it Controversial?



Note the "fixed carbon" is not "carbon". You "fix" with carbon, is not the same as "fix" with dogs, a difference that some people don't seem to recognize until they reach my age.
Regards,
Jack
On Sat, 14 Mar 2009, Brian Whatcott wrote:

Though it is not entirely clear what in fact bc is surprized about exactly
(a feature of his telegraphic style) perhaps all would become at least
somewhat clearer if he also consulted
M.R Campbell "The coal Fields of the United Sates "
US Geological Survey Paper 100-a which offers for Anthracite:
Moisture 3.2% Volatile matter 1.2% Fixed Carbon 95.6% Heat Value 14400 BTU

(As mentioned there, a high rank semibituminous can indeed offer
greater heating value of 15360 BTU at a lower fixed carbon content
83.4% on an ash-free basis, though I fear that this USGS reference is
almost as old as Jack's )

More modern data are to be found in standard works such as
W.Francis, Coal: Its Formation & Composition, 2ndEd 1961
- but I cannot access its contents at this point.

Brian W

Bernard Cleyet wrote:
bc is surprised, so we are left w/ the rare instance of charcoal
briquettes, coke, etc.

bc also surprised the best (only?) coke is from bituminous not
anthracite.

p.s. from the article Jack referenced below:
------------
COAL is not a hydrocarbon. Even if we leave out of
consideration the technically very important constituents ash,
moisture, sulfur, and nitrogen, the
data in Table I show that, in a high-rank bituminous coal,
there may be one to nine oxygen atoms to every hundred
atoms comprising the coal substance.

----------------

It's a matter of definition -- coal is a sugar!, partially carbonized
along w/ lignin and cellulose. Which makes sense since that's from
whence it came.


On 2009, Mar 14, , at 15:55, Jack Uretsky wrote:


See
http://admin.pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie50291a021
which gives, for anthracite (by weight)
78 \pm 12% C and 20 \pm 12% H. Since the atomic weight of carbon
is 12 and that of H is 1 (the H is combined in compounds), there
is about
one hydrogen atom available for each 7, or so, carbon atoms.
Burning of coal, therefore, is not a simple process of combining
carbon with oxygen.
Regards,
Jack


On Fri, 13 Mar 2009, Brian Whatcott wrote:


Jack Uretsky wrote:

...
Carbon is not, except in rare instances, a fuel. The fuels we
use are
hydrocarbons....
Jack

Huh? Anthracite coal, the formerly dominant fuel of steam
locomotives,
is reckoned to offer between 92% to 98% carbon....

Brian W
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--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley



_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l


--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley