You have probably heard the term “natural gas” before, but how much do you understand about what that means? Do you know where it comes from? What do people use natural gas for? It is always a good idea to become knowledgeable about an energy resource that you may be using in your home right now, as you read these words.

Natural gas is combustible. It is a mixture of hydrocarbon gasses, which are something that occur naturally beneath the surface of the Earth. Often, natural gas can be found with, or near, deposits of petroleum. It tends to accumulate in sedimentary rocks that are porous. Natural gas is mostly made up of methane. It can also contain ethane, propane, butane, and nitrogen, and the amounts of each of these can vary. Natural gas is colorless, and odorless, and shapeless.

Now, what does all that mean, in plain English? The word “combustible” is a simpler way of saying that something can burn very easily. You may recall from your chemistry class that a hydrocarbon is an organic compound that is made up of entirely of just two elements: hydrogen and carbon. Natural gas is a mixture of the hydrocarbons called methane, ethane, propane, and butane. Natural gas also contains nitrogen, which is another element that comes in a gas form.

Natural gas collects in sedimentary rocks. There are three kinds of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Sedimentary rocks are made up of several different layers of sediment, (sand, dirt, pebbles, bits of shells, and fragments of other materials). These types of rocks are porous, which means that they have holes in them. It is in these holes that the natural gas accumulates. Petroleum is another word for the oil that comes from the Earth. It is the name given to the result of the process that refines crude oil.

Many people think that natural gas is made up of dead dinosaurs from millions of years ago. In reality, this is only partially true. Natural gas comes from the remains of plants, animals, and microorganisms that lived millions of years ago. This would include the dinosaurs and the plants that some of them were eating. It also includes tiny organisms, called microorganisms, that would be too small for the human eye to see, (without the use of a microscope). Some of these things may have been alive before the dinosaurs were around.

These plants, animals, and microorganisms decomposed after they died. Sediment piled on top of them, and over time, these layers of sediment got heavy enough to compress the things that were decomposing under very high pressure for a really long time. This pressure, and the heat that can be found underneath the earth, broke down the organic matter, and changed it into either natural gas or oil.

Natural gas is frequently used for residential heating. You might be using this fuel in your furnace, your stove, and your hot water heater. Natural gas has other uses, too.