No doubt you have heard of it, and if you use a gas stove, furnace or other appliance, you are using it in your home. But, that doesn’t quite answer the question. What is natural gas and where does it come from?
What is Natural Gas?
Natural gas is actually a mixture of naturally occurring gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide. It is found deep underground in rock formations, coal beds, and petroleum reserves. It is generally created through two different processes.
- Biogenic Process: in this process the natural gas is created by different organisms in places like marshes, bogs, and landfills.
- Thermogenic Process: This works much in the same way as the creation of fossil fuels. Pressure, heat, and thousands of years for organic material into the precious and practical gas.
An Interesting Fact
Most people can identify natural gas by its smell. This is because natural gas is completely invisible to the human eye, but did you know natural gas also doesn’t have a smell?
That’s right. Natural gas does not have a natural smell, but because the gas can be dangerous to our health (either because of its toxic or explosive nature) gas companies add an odorant. These odorants are usually thiols which contain sulfur. This way the gas can easily be detected with the power of your nose.
