Coal

Hello. I'm a special kind of rock. I'm shiny and black, and for a very, very long time, I slept deep under the ground. I was made from tall ferns and giant plants that lived millions of years ago, long before dinosaurs. The plants fell down and got squished under mud and water. Over a long, long time, they turned into me. I waited and waited until one day, people found me. Do you know what I am? I am Coal.

A long, long time ago, people found me. In a place called China, more than 3,000 years ago, people discovered I could burn to make a cozy, warm fire. It felt so nice. Later, during Roman times, people in England used me to keep their homes toasty warm in the winter. But my biggest job started in the 18th century. It was a special time called the Industrial Revolution. I got to power big steam engines. Choo-choo. I made trains go super fast on their tracks and helped big factories make all sorts of new things for everyone to use.

I helped build the world you see today. I lit up big cities and made things in factories. I gave people a lot of energy to do amazing things. Now, people are learning to use my new friends to make power, like the bright sun and the strong wind. That is great. It is important to find clean ways to keep our world bright and happy. I am proud that I showed everyone what powerful things we can do when we work together to light up our world.