http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/cub_/lessons/cub_earth/cub_earth_lesson07.xmllessontext/xmlIntegrated Teaching and Learning Program, fossil fuelEarthoilenergysedimentary rockgeologycoremethaneFossil FuelReservoir RocksPoresCap RocksFracturesSedimentary RocksCores

In this lesson, students investigate sources of fossil fuels, particularly oil. Students will learn how engineers and scientists look for oil by taking core samples from a model of the Earth. Also, students will explore and analyze oil consumption and production in the United States and around the world.

Finding fossil fuels below the Earth’s surface is a challenge for geological and petroleum engineers. Much investigation is done before drilling expensive wells: They examine core samples, look for natural fractures in the reservoir rock, and learn the size and porosity of the reservoir rock and how fast oil droplets move through these pores. Engineers also design special machines and tools for extracting and transporting oil, and complex refining processes to convert the crude oil into many forms of usable energy. Identify the origin of fossil fuelsKnow the important role that engineers have in gathering and finding oil Understand how humans use oil in their everyday lives 50TeachEngineering.orgJessica ToddMelissa StratenMalinda Schaefer ZarskeJanet YowellKeller, Edward A. Environmental Geology, 7th Edition: New York: Prentice Hall, 1996.S1142562ColoradoScienceb. Analyze and interpret data to generate evidence about the prehistoric environment 44S1142568ColoradoScienced. Create and evaluate models of the flow of nonliving components or resources through an ecosystem 44S11424F6ColoradoScienced. Use multiple resources - including print, electronic, and human - to locate information about different sources of renewable and nonrenewable energy44S1141716International_Technology_Education_Association-ITEA_STL_StandardsTechnologyC. The use of technology affects the environment in good and bad ways.35S11417D6International_Technology_Education_Association-ITEA_STL_StandardsTechnologyC. Energy comes in different forms. 35United StatesCopyright 2012 - Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulderhttp://www.teachengineering.org/policy_ipp.phphttp://www.teachengineering.org/2012-02-024Teacher