Submitted 9 months ago by delitomatoes@lemm.ee to [deleted]
I just realised that I have never seen or used it, neither crude oil of course, but there are more variants of it than this natural mineral that powers a lot of the world.
What led to you seeing or touching coal?
Yep used to do exploration for it as a geologist
Yep. Visited the coal mines in northern PA as a little kid. Going underground was super cool.
Tour Ed Mines represent!
Yes. Hike up a mountain in Kentucky and it just sticks out occasionally.
I ee coal everyday. It powers my pen
I can’t remember a specific time if I’ve touched coal. I know I’ve done a geology course at one point, and visited various museums with large rock collections.
I’ve definitely seen coal in person protruding from the top of passing railcars… here’s a picture of one I took in South Surrey earlier this month:
A gas station in a mining town I visited had little statues carved out of coal.
Whoa! Deja Vu!
My dad grew up in England in the 20s and 30s, and they always burned coal in their fireplaces (wood much harder to come by there). He always talked about how long it burned and was kind of nostalgic for it, even though we lived in southern California and he was a contractor, so we always had lots of wood from his jobs. When I was a teenager, he decided to get a big bag of it, and it really did make great fires, but it’s messy and smells bad.
We also have a small lump in a little square box with our Christmas stuff that someone got as a novelty gag gift and we never threw it away.
It’s pretty easy to find along the river banks around here. It wouldn’t burn if you tossed it in a fire though, not sure why (maybe it’s waterlogged or something).
Took a tour of an old/historic cool mine once. There was still a seam in the wall. And they had some coal and stuff in the gift shop.
You might also see it if you see a blacksmith demonstration. (For example, Historic Fort Snelling, for any one near MSP airport looking for something to do.)
Growing up my parents had a Jesus on the cross statue carved out of coal. Does that count?
Maybe, though I am not sure.
But I did hold a jar of crude oil when I was a kid.
Saw a big chunk washed up on a beach.
Yes, in a shallow tourist mine in Australia. Apparently coal starts to flake easily once it’s been exposed to air for a bit, so they kept a big chunk in a large jar of water that you could take out and handle. It felt like a light wet rock.
The sample, and the coal at the workface of the mine was stereotypicaly black. We wore hats with lights on, and when we emerged back out to the daylight I had an overwhelming urge to speak in a Monty Python type Yorkshire accent and go home and have my back scrubbed clean of the coal dust by my swarthy tired looking wife while I sat in a tub in front of the fire in the kitchen and our urchins played in the street.
I don’t want to give the impression I’m a big fossil fuel tourist, but I’ve also seen blobs of crude oil on beaches near Mediterranean sea oil terminals.
Sadly, I didn’t try to set fire to them on either of these occasions, which I now regret.
As a kid, we used to go along the train tracks and pick up pieces of coal that tumbled out of the cars.
Coal heating was very common especially in the more remote regions of my area, until the late '70s.
I use it and see it often for argentinian style barbecues.
I had a hookah for a long time, so yes.
Yes, in west Virginia… The shits everywhere.
ShawiniganHandshake@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
I visited a former coal mine that’s now a museum. If you take a tour, you get a small piece of coal to keep at the end.