This document discusses fossil fuels and how they are formed from ancient plant and animal remains. It defines the three main fossil fuels as coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Coal is formed from heat and pressure turning dead plants into coal over long periods of time buried in sediment. Crude oil and natural gas are also formed in sedimentary rock layers from the remains of ancient organisms. Therefore, coal, crude oil, and natural gas are called "fossil" fuels since they are formed from fossilized remains of plants and animals that lived long ago.

1. Now let’s look at another type of fossils.
FossilFuels

2. Remember the three fossil fuels are:
coal crude oil natural gas

3. Fuels are things that burn.
Which of the following burn?
a. paper
b. water
c. wood
d. iron

4. Paper and wood burn but water
and iron don’t.
Therefore, paper and wood could
fuels
be called ______.
Yes, they are called fuels but
NOT fossil fuels.
Why?

5. Because fossils are the
remains of things that lived long
ago.
Coal, crude oil and natural gas
were formed from organisms
that lived long, long ago.

6. Formation of Fossil Fuels
So coal, crude oil and natural gas are
called “fossil” fuels because they
formed from
a. plastic
b. cast and molds
c. sediment such as gravel, sand, silt
and clay
d. remains of ancient plants and/or
animals

7. How is coal formed?

8. Heat and pressure
turned the dead
plants into coal
(http://www.need.org/

9. How are crude oil and natural gas formed?

10. (http://www.need.org/

11. Fossil fuels like fossils are formed in
sedimentary rock.
Here crude oil
and natural
gas are shown
trapped in
layers of
sedimentary
rock.

12. Below is a website that has good reading
material that you can print (in black and
white) on fossil fuels and alternative energy
sources such as wind, solar, biomass and
geothermal.
Under the tab student choose Energy
Infobooks. Both the Complete Primary and
Elementary Energy Infobooks are excellent.
So are the individual printouts on each
energy source such as coal, petroleum,
natural gas, wind, solar, etc.
(http://www.need.org/)

13. Another useful website.
From the tabs at the top of the page
choose,The Energy Story. Under the Table of
Contents, you will be able to choose
chapters on the fossil fuels and alternative
sources of energy.
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov