Overview:

Natural gas is a highly flammable hydrocarbon gas consisting chiefly of methane (CH4). Although methane is always the chief component, it may also include other gases such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, ethane, ethylene, propane, and even some helium.

The gas is found entrapped in the earth's crust at varying depths beneath impervious strata, such as limestone, and may or may not be in association with oil. If oil is present it is called wet gas, else dry gas. Deposits are fairly widely distributed, however, in the contiguous US only Texas and Louisiana are net exporters. All of the other states use more gas than they produce. The gas is drawn from wells, similar to oil wells, and is usually transported by pipelines, sometimes a thousand miles or more.

As a fuel, natural gas is convenient and efficient. It is used primarily for heat, in industrial, commercial and residential settings. In many homes the house and water are heated by gas, the food is cooked with it and clothes dried. It is also used to produce electricity, in many cases using gas fired turbines that are similar to jet engines. Gas has the great advantage of producing no smoke or ash on burning, although it is usually much more expensive than coal as a fuel.

Use the underlined links above to go to tutorials and pages of links for the various aspects of natural gas listed.