Natural gas is an important fuel that's used to do all kinds of things from heating homes to drying paint on new cars, from lighting up city streets to firing up barbecue grills.

What is natural gas, anyway? Natural gas is an energy resource that comes from underground. Gases are a type of matter; the other types of matter are solids and liquids. There are lots of gases, but the most important one in Energy Underground is natural gas!

Natural gas has no real form of its own. It fills out whatever container holds it. It has no color or smell. When it comes to your home or school, gas is in a container or pipe. As a measure of safety, your gas company adds a special smell to the gas that makes detecting leaks fast and easy. The gas is given a smell like really rotten eggs - ugh!