Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.

Throughout history, coal has been a useful resource for human consumption. It is primarily burned as a fossil fuel for the production of electricity and/or heat, and is also used for industrial purposes such as refining metals. Coal forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then anthracite. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over a long period of time.

Coal, a fossil fuel, is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, as well as one of the largest worldwide anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide releases. Gross carbon dioxide emissions from coal usage are slightly more than those from petroleum and about double the amount from natural gas. Coal is extracted from the ground by mining, either underground by shaft mining through the seams or in open pits.

Top hard and brown coal producers in 2010 (2009) were (Mt): China 3,162 (2,971), United States 997 (985), India 571 (571), Australia 420 (399), Indonesia 336 (301), Russia 324 (297), South Africa 255 (247), Poland 134 (135), Kazakhstan 111 (101), and Colombia 74 (73).

Bituminous coal Anthracite (Ibbenbüren, Germany)

Noun

coal (plural coal or coals)

1. (uncountable) A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
2. (countable) A piece of coal used for burning. Note that in British English the first of the following examples would usually be used, whereas in American English the latter would.

   Put some coals on the fire.

   Put some coal on the fire.

3. (countable) A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
4. (countable) A smouldering piece of material.

   Just as the camp-fire died down to just coals, with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.

Hyponyms

• anthracite, bitumin

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