Coal Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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Baby, It's Coal Outside
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, with smaller quantities of sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen. Coal begins as layers of plant matter accumulating at the bottom of a body of water. For the process to continue, the plant matter must be protected from biodegradation and oxidization, usually by mud or acidic water. This traps their carbon in immense peat bogs that are eventually covered over and deeply buried by sediments. Under this compression the plant material is metamorphosed into coal: over time, the chemical and physical properties of the plant remains are changed by geological action to create a solid material. Coal is primarily used as a solid fuel to produce electricity and heat through combustion. World coal consumption was about 6.75 billion short tons in 2006 and is expected to increase 48% to 9.98 billion short tons by 2030. The USA consumes about 14% of the world total, using 90% of it for generation of electricity. The most efficient fossil plant in SCE&G's system generates 250 megawatts of electricity by burning pulverized coal in two units. At full load, McMeekin Station can produce enough power in one hour to supply the average electric needs of 250 residential customers for one month. Cooling water for the plant is supplied from the bottom of Lake Murray. This very cool water allows McMeekin to operate more efficiently, which reduces the amount of coal that must be burned. There is no history of coal mining in South Carolina; the state has insignificant coal reserves and obtains most it's COAL BY RAIL.
Congratulations to IkeHurley13 for FTF!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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