Quarks & Co: underground mining

"Prosper-Haniel in Bottrop is one of the few remaining active mines in
North Rhine-Westphalia. Working here more than 4,100 employees who
support each year about 3.5 million tons of coal. Germany needs coal
to make electricity out of it. Still, it looks like as if the coal
mining without any future One reason.... Chinese coal is cheaper This
threatens to Germany to die a whole industry Ranga Yogeshwar pulls
into the pit and discovered in about 1,000 meters depth, a whole
different world, he speaks with the miners, tells of the battle for
coal, gas and mining disasters and shows how challenging the work is
far beneath the earth, people and technology.

The entire route network of Prosper-Haniel is 123 kilometers. Until
the coal from the mine is out, it must be transported many miles in
the mine - in cars, in huge shipping containers, the rush with a speed
of 70 km / h in the air and on two computer-controlled conveyor belts.
Quarks & Co shows the path of coal from the face to light up.

100 years ago the coal with pick and shovel was broken. Middle of the
last century, facilitated by compressed air-driven hammers dismantling
work. Today, miners use the advanced machines such as the
Walzenschrämmlader, which moves with six meters per minute, while
eating a 80-centimeter-wide strip in the coal. As successful as the
history of coal mining is so high is the price that had to pay for the
many miners earlier with their health. Quarks & Co explained the risks
of the job involves underground.

Previously, the miners took canaries in a cage to work. The animals
were awake, everything was good. They hung their heads, the miners had
to see to it that they came as quickly as possible to fresh air. The
reason: escaping marsh gas - mostly methane gas. In a certain
concentration of this gas is highly explosive. Today it is extracted,
so as to avoid a so-called fire-damp. Nevertheless, accidents happen
again and again, in China today still die every year thousands of
miners. Quarks & Co explains how the miners live with the constant
threat and what you can do about the explosion.