AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Fossil fuels are made from decomposing plants and animals. These fuels are found in the Earth’s crust and contain carbon and hydrogen, which can be burned for energy. Coal, oil, and natural gas are examples of fossil fuels.

Detailed explanation-2: -Coal is called a fossil fuel because it was made from plants that were once alive! Since coal comes from plants, and plants get their energy from the sun, the energy in coal also came from the sun. The coal we use today took millions of years to form.

Detailed explanation-3: -Coal is a type of fossil fuel, formed when dead plant matter decays into peat and is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years.

Detailed explanation-4: -Millions of years ago, algae and plants lived in shallow seas. After dying and sinking to the seafloor, the organic material mixed with other sediments and was buried. Over millions of years under high pressure and high temperature, the remains of these organisms transformed into what we know today as fossil fuels.

Detailed explanation-5: -Petroleum-oil and natural gas-comes from a process that started in ancient seas. Small organisms called plankton lived, died and sank to the bottom of those oceans. As debris settled down through the water, it covered the dead plankton.