Can someone help with yr8 science/geography homework please?

[FreudianFoxSquishedByAPouffe]

Hi, my DSD has Homework that we don't really understand.

It says "when you travel by bus or car you are using the suns energy. Draw a comic strip to explain how."

There is apparently an example of how to start, with a picture of crystals under water, with the sun above it and the caption "tiny sea plants"

Unfortunately DSD doesn't have the sheet with her but apparently the other questions are something about oil. They haven't discussed the homework topic in class though. Any ideas please?

Anything here?

Plants grow because of sunlight - they use the suns energy. A long time ago, plants died and got squashed and eventually turned into oil, under the ground. People drill for oil and turn it into petrol (and diesel). And that goes into the car/bus. Make sense? I'd hope they've been covering how oil was originally mde in class so this shouldn't be new to her!

The cartoon story should go as follows.

Crude oil is made of oil formed from the preserved remains of prehistoric zooplankton and algae (microscopic plants and animals floating in the sea) that relied on the energy of the sun to live (as almost all living creatures do) and when they died they sank to the sea bed and were laid down as sediment mixed with mud. Eventually the rotting organic matter became collected as pockets of oil under the sea bed.

Then we came along, drlled, extracted the oil and refined it and turned it into petrol for our cars.

drlled = drilled

AMumInScotland - x posted with you. I'd never disagree with a Scot over oil.

Thanks all :) that's pretty much what DH reckoned it meant, but we were unsure as the question seemed a bit vague. That BBC link is ideal too.

This science stuff is not my strong point. Give me a bit of algebra or literary analysis any day!

Actually BeenBeta it could well be plants make coal not oil... it's a bit of a distant memory, despite having lived in Aberdeen

Coal is made from trees, oil from animals (sea creatures).

They did not rot, though.

Sounds like something they have started in class, how much does she remember of what she's done in school?
Agree with other posters about the coal/oil link.
OP, you need to buy some good revision guides, it's only going to get worse.

Yep we actually got some science books for DSD for Xmas but we already wrapped them!

DSD is adamant they did NOT cover the HW topic in class - the teacher gave them the sheet and told them to get on with it, because she wasn't feeling well. This is not a one off, we are forever having to teach them new stuff for their HW.

Ahh.
That's called an Independent Research Opportunity in Eduspeak

LOL in that case they should rename their school "the independent research academy"

Yes there is quite a bit of the 'giving them a sheet and telling them to do some research' in our DSs school too.

We end up doing a heck of a lot of back up.