Sciencemadness Discussion Board

What is the diffrence between coal and charcoal?

Evil_Tree - 30-5-2004 at 10:10

I've always wondered what made coal diffrent from charcoal. If I recall corectly they both are carbon. But is the carbon arrangement diffrent?

Ramiel - 31-5-2004 at 02:10

did you?
they are both carbon.
no.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&...

bach was a genius, a legend. Legends never die.

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-Ramiel

Ps. :P ;)

Evil_Tree - 31-5-2004 at 03:59

Thank you...

Bach is dead. Legends are dead too.

unionised - 31-5-2004 at 15:48

About 100,000,000 years
and, consequently, a different C12/ C14 ratio.
Coal generally has more other organic trash (nitrogen, sulphur etc).

Geomancer - 31-5-2004 at 15:51

They are both mainly carbon, but with sizable amounts of other junk. Coal comes in many grades, the harder and more metamorphosed types (anthracite) being somewhat near to graphitic carbon. Cooking coal to drive off many of the impurities results in coke (a purer form of carbon), coal gas, and coal tar. The gas byproduct of coke manufacture was used for lighting. Later, the tar byproduct of gas manufacture was an important feedstock for the chemical industry.

Charcoal is normally cooked at a low temperature, since it won't burn right without some of the impurities. The carbon structure is (I think) pretty much amorphous or glassy at the atomic scale. Heating to ridiculous temperatures will gradually graphitize it.