If natural resouces (natural gas, oil, and coal) are formed by extremepressure acting on material made mainly of carbon, why don't we sendlarge amounts of useless carbon based things to Venus where there is veryextreme surface pressure?
Coal, oil, and natural gas are often called "fossil fuels" because they
come from things that lived on Earth millions of years ago (fossils!). When
plants and animals, including dinosaurs, died, their bodies were buried
beneath layers of Earth and squeezed together. After a very, very long
time the plant and animal remains reacted with the Earth's heat and were
transformed into fossil fuels. So, the next time your parents pull into
the gas station, tell them to "Fill 'er up with Tyrannosaurus"!
Many people are concerned about finding new fuel sources since we will
probably run out of fossil fuels in the future. But sending our dead
plants and animals to Venus to make more fuel is probably not going to
work. First, Venus doesn't have the tiny organisms we
need to break down dead things--like worms and maggots!! Second, Venus is
VERY hot! Our carcasses would probably burn before we
could bury them! Third, it would cost a LOT of money to send dead
stuff to Venus (and UPS does NOT deliver to Venus!). And finally, since
burning
fossil fuels pollutes our atmosphere, we're probably better off if we try to
find energy sources that don't harm our environment, like wind and solar
power.
However you're right about one thing, Venus's pressure is definitely
"extreme"! In fact, its 90 times greater
than on Earth--enough to crush a human being! If you wanted to
experience a similar pressure on Earth, you'd have to go deep sea
diving 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. But if you're going to try
it, be sure to travel in a
pressurized submarine like Jacques Cousteau's "Nautilus", since no scuba
diver would ever make it at this depth!
Submitted by Landon (Missouri, USA)
(September 19, 1997)