this may be a dumb question but when I search their formation, they are are both dead organic matters that were buried long ago and subjected to pressure and heat. what separates them from turning into coal or petroleum?
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Coal is formed by land based matter e.g. trees and plants etc.
Oil is formed by much smaller marine organisms within the oceans. Sometimes, over millions of years the sea can dry out and you’re left with a desert which would explain oil rich land such as the Middle East.
A big difference is what the relation between carbon and hydrogen atoms are in the original organic matter. Or at least after the oxidation have taken place. For example ocean sediments contain a lot of water which contains lots of hydrogen atoms. This is how natural gas is formed as it have an H-C ratio of up to 4. Oil have an H-C ratio closer to 1. Sidements formed on land where the gasses can escape over time often have a lower H-C ratio and turns into coal.
Life on our planet is based on carbon. When things die and stay in ground for a very long time under huge pressure, the molecules start acting in weird ways like breaking up and separating, arranging in specific ways, eventually carbon molecules start forming things like peat, coal, oil, etc.
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