Test: Coal & Petroleum- 2 - UPSC MCQ

Petroleum is often called 'black gold' due to its significant commercial importance and value as a natural resource.

Paraffin wax, obtained from petroleum, is primarily used for making candles, ointments, and vaseline.

Statements (i), (iii), and (iv) are correct. Inexhaustible natural resources, such as sunlight and air, are present in unlimited quantities and cannot be exhausted by human activities. Exhaustible natural resources, like coal and petroleum, can be depleted by human use. Water, although renewable, is not limitless and can be exhausted in specific contexts.

Answer: Option B

When coal is heated in air, it burns and produces mainly carbon dioxide gas.

Coal is primarily composed of carbon and is classified as a fossil fuel due to its origin from ancient plant remains.

In addition to carbon dioxide, coal processing yields:

• Coke: A tough, porous substance used in steel manufacturing and metal extraction.
• Coal Tar: A thick black liquid containing around 200 substances, used to produce synthetic dyes, drugs, and other materials.
• Coal Gas: A fuel obtained during coke production, historically used for street lighting.

Coal is mainly composed of carbon, which is the primary element in coal due to the conversion of dead vegetation into coal through the process of carbonization. The high pressure and high temperature conditions during formation led to the predominance of carbon in coal.

• Assertion (A) is correct. Coal is indeed considered a fossil fuel because it was formed from the remains of vegetation that underwent carbonisation over millions of years.
• Reason (R) is also correct. The slow process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is termed carbonisation, a key factor in the formation of coal.
• However, If both Assertion and Reason are true and Reason is the correct explanation of Assertion

Fractional distillation:

• The method used to separate petrol from crude oil is fractional distillation.
• It is used to separate the components of miscible liquids on the basis of the difference in the boiling point.

Gujarat has a network of pipelines for transporting natural gas, including cities like Vadodara.