A drilling rig at sea reaches a much older sea4 panels. Lived: tiny plants and animals live in a sea millions of years ago. Buried: their remains lie under sand, silt and rock, changed to crude oil by heat and pressure. Found: a rig in coastal waters drills down to them. Burned: the oil is refined on shore, and a ferry burns the fuel on the water above.
A lump of coal fills in a form that asks its age4 panels. Lived: under Born it writes "A swampy forest, hundreds of millions of years ago." Buried: under Previous address it writes "Under dirt and rock for millions of years. The pressure and the heat made me what I am." Found: under Date of arrival it writes "A machine dug me up last week." Burned: under Reason for visit it writes "The power plant." The clerk stamps the form.
A fern in a swamp forest ends up lighting a lamp4 panels. Lived: a fern grows in a swampy forest, hundreds of millions of years ago. Buried: it falls, and layers of dirt and rock pile up over it until pressure and heat turn the plants into coal. Found: miners uncover a black seam. Burned: a power plant burns the coal, and across town a reading lamp comes on.
A coal car counts six stops from the swamp to the furnace6 panels. Lived: stop one is painted on its side, a forest of swamp plants. Buried: stop two is the dark, millions of years under rock with pressure and heat. Found: at stop three machines load coal from the mine. Cleaned: at stop four a plant near the mine takes out the rocks and dirt. Moved: stop five is the longest, a train ride across the country. Burned: stop six is a power plant, and the car rolls home empty.
A coal seam under a hill hears the machines arrive5 panels. Lived: the seam remembers being a swampy forest. Buried: dirt and rock covered it, and pressure and heat made it coal. Found: it lies near the surface, so machines lift off the topsoil and the rock above it. Burned: the coal leaves for a power plant. After: the topsoil goes back, and grass and trees are planted on the hill.
A fern in a swamp forest ends up lighting a lamp4 panels. Lived: a fern grows in a swampy forest, hundreds of millions of years ago. Buried: it falls, and layers of dirt and rock pile up over it until pressure and heat turn the plants into coal. Found: miners uncover a black seam. Burned: a power plant burns the coal, and across town a reading lamp comes on.
A lump of coal fills in a form that asks its age4 panels. Lived: under Born it writes "A swampy forest, hundreds of millions of years ago." Buried: under Previous address it writes "Under dirt and rock for millions of years. The pressure and the heat made me what I am." Found: under Date of arrival it writes "A machine dug me up last week." Burned: under Reason for visit it writes "The power plant." The clerk stamps the form.
A miner's ride to work by elevator and small train4 panels. Lived: a poster in the locker room shows the swamp forest this coal once was. Buried: the elevator drops past the layers of rock that pressed it into coal. Found: a small train carries the miner along a tunnel to the coal, where a large machine digs it out. Burned: at home that night the miner switches on a light.
A swamp tree leaves its energy to someone it will never meet4 panels. Lived: a tree in a swampy forest stores energy all its life. Buried: the tree falls, rock covers it, and pressure and heat turn it to coal with the energy still inside. Found: a mine opens hundreds of millions of years later. Burned: the coal burns and the stored energy comes out as heat. A kid warms both hands and says thanks to nobody.
Coal goes to the steel mill instead of the power plant4 panels. Lived: a swamp forest stands where a mine will be. Buried: layers of rock press the plants into coal. Found: the coal is mined and made into coal coke for a steel mill. Burned: the coke burns very hot and helps turn iron ore into iron for steel. The last drawing is a bridge.
Coal, steam, turbine and light inside a power plant5 panels. Lived: swamp plants store energy as they grow. Buried: dirt and rock cover them, and pressure and heat make coal. Found: the coal is mined and sent to a power plant. Burned: it burns under a boiler and turns water into steam. Steam: the steam spins a turbine, the turbine drives a generator, and a streetlight comes on.
Four ranks of coal compare the pressure and heat they got4 panels. Lived: four heaps of swamp plants start out alike. Buried: each gets a different share of pressure and heat. Lignite gets the least, then subbituminous, then bituminous, and anthracite the most. Found: lignite comes up brown and crumbly, anthracite hard and black. Burned: anthracite gives the most heat and will not stop saying so.
Peat's slow promotion to coal5 panels. Lived: swamp plants die and pile up in the wet. Peat: they decay into soft brown peat. Buried: mud and rock bury the peat deep, where heat and pressure work on it for millions of years. Found: it is hard black coal by the time miners reach the seam. Burned: it goes into a boiler, promoted at last.
Oil 10
A diatom family scrapbook, millions of years long4 panels. Lived: the first photo shows diatoms, tiny living things of the sea, floating in the light. Buried: the next pages go dark, with sand, silt and rock on top and heat and pressure all around. Found: a drill bit pokes into the corner of a page. Burned: the last photo is a tractor, and under it someone has written "Us, as diesel fuel."
A diver looks for an underground lake of oil and finds rock4 panels. Lived: a map shows the ancient sea where the oil began. Buried: the diver climbs down past layers of sand, silt and rock, flippers and all. Found: there is no lake. The oil sits in tiny spaces inside the rock itself, and a well has to draw it out. Burned: back on top, the diver rides home on fuel made from it.
A drilling rig at sea reaches a much older sea4 panels. Lived: tiny plants and animals live in a sea millions of years ago. Buried: their remains lie under sand, silt and rock, changed to crude oil by heat and pressure. Found: a rig in coastal waters drills down to them. Burned: the oil is refined on shore, and a ferry burns the fuel on the water above.
A refinery that never sleeps5 panels. Lived: a night worker reads how the oil began, as living things of an ancient sea. Buried: the page shows them under sand, silt and rock, changed by heat and pressure. Found: crude oil arrives from the wells at midnight. Refined: the refinery runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Burned: at sunrise, tanks of gasoline leave for the morning traffic.
A thumper truck knocks on the ground and listens5 panels. Lived: an ancient sea full of tiny living things. Buried: their remains lie deep under sand, silt and rock, turned to oil by heat and pressure. Searched: a truck with a pad pounds the ground, and geologists read the waves that come back through the rock. Found: they pick the spot and a well is drilled. Burned: the oil becomes fuel, and the truck needs some.
A toy dinosaur takes the credit and a diatom objects4 panels. Lived: at the gas pump a toy dinosaur says "That is me in there." A diatom answers "It was us, tiny plants and animals of the sea." Buried: the diatom draws sand, silt, rock, heat and pressure. Found: then a well. Burned: the car drives off on gasoline, and the dinosaur wants a second opinion.
One barrel of crude oil is sorted at the refinery5 panels. Lived: a label on the barrel reads "Made from ancient sea life." Buried: small print adds "Kept under rock, heat and pressure for millions of years." Found: the barrel is filled at a well. Refined: the refinery separates the crude oil into gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and liquids for making plastics. Burned: a car, a truck and a plane each take their share.
Plankton sink to the seafloor and come back as fuel5 panels. Lived: tiny sea plants and animals drift in an ancient sea. Buried: they die and sink. Sand, silt and rock cover them, and heat and pressure turn the remains into crude oil. Found: a drill reaches the oil. Refined: a refinery separates it into fuels. Burned: gasoline burns in the engine of a car on its way to the beach.
The popcorn barrel, 42 gallons in and about 45 out5 panels. Lived: sea plants and animals live and die in an ancient sea. Buried: sand, silt and rock cover them, and heat and pressure make crude oil. Found: a 42-gallon barrel is filled. Refined: about 45 gallons of products come out. Like popcorn, they take up more room than what went in. Burned: most of them are burned as fuel, and the barrel is still counting.
Three engines wait for three fuels from one crude oil5 panels. Lived: ancient sea life. Buried: millions of years under sand, silt and rock, with heat and pressure. Found: crude oil comes up a well. Refined: it is separated into gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel. Burned: a car takes the gasoline, a school bus the diesel and an airplane the jet fuel. All three thank the same plankton.
Natural gas 8
A gas turbine that works like a jet engine on the ground4 panels. Lived: plants and animals of long ago. Buried: their remains under rock, turned to natural gas by pressure and heat. Found: the gas is drawn from a well and piped to a power plant. Burned: it burns inside a turbine built much like a jet engine. The hot gases spin the blades, the blades drive a generator, and a city lights up.
A puff of gas rides a pipeline to a kitchen stove6 panels. Lived: tiny sea life, millions of years back. Buried: layers of sand, silt and rock, with pressure and heat. Found: the puff flows up a well. Cleaned: a processing plant takes out the water vapor. Moved: a long pipeline carries it under fields and streets. Burned: it comes out at a stove and cooks an egg.
Gas held in the tiny pores of a shale rock4 panels. Lived: ancient living things settle in thick layers. Buried: pressure and heat turn some of the remains into gas, held in the tiny pores of shale. Found: water and sand are forced down a well under high pressure. The shale breaks, and the gas flows up. Burned: a power plant burns it to make electricity.
The gas with no smell is given one on purpose5 panels. Lived: ancient plants and animals. Buried: their remains under rock, changed by pressure and heat. Found: natural gas comes up a well with no color, no smell and no taste. Scented: a gas company adds a chemical that smells like rotten eggs, so that a leak can be noticed. Burned: the stove lights, and a nose in the last panel reports nothing unusual.
Methane introduces itself as one carbon and four hydrogens4 panels. Lived: plants and animals of long ago, with a caption that says they are rich in carbon and hydrogen. Buried: under sand, silt and rock, pressure and heat change some of the remains into natural gas. Found: a well lets the gas up. Most of it is methane, drawn as one carbon atom holding four hydrogens. Burned: a blue flame under a soup pot.
Natural gas found hiding in a coal seam4 panels. Lived: a swampy forest. Buried: the plants become a coal seam, with natural gas held in the coal. Found: the gas is taken out of the coal before the miners arrive. Burned: it joins the gas in a pipeline and heats a school.
Oil and gas turn out to be roommates underground4 panels. Lived: the two began as the same ancient sea life. Buried: under the same rock, pressure and heat changed some of the remains into oil and some into gas. Found: a well drilled for oil brings up natural gas with it. Burned: they part at the top. Oil goes to a refinery and a fuel tank, gas to a pipeline and a furnace.
One house where natural gas has four jobs4 panels. Lived: a framed picture in the hall shows ancient sea life. Buried: the basement steps go down past drawings of rock layers. Found: a pipe comes in from the street, where gas from far-off wells arrives. Burned: four small flames in one panel. One heats the rooms, one heats the water, one cooks dinner and one dries the clothes.
All three fuels 8
A family portrait of one solid, one liquid and one gas4 panels. Lived: the grandparents, drawn as swamp plants and tiny sea life. Buried: the family home, under layers of rock, with pressure and heat. Found: Coal sits for the portrait as a black rock, Oil pours into a jar and Gas has to be drawn as a dotted outline. Burned: all three leave the same things behind when they burn, heat to use and carbon dioxide in the air.
A time capsule that takes millions of years to open4 panels. Lived: a box is packed with plants and animals of long ago. Buried: it is covered with sand, silt and rock and left under pressure and heat for millions of years. Some of what is inside turns to coal, some to oil and some to natural gas. Found: the capsule is opened by a mine and two wells. Burned: three flames, and a note inside that says the next capsule will take just as long.
A timeline too long for one strip of paper4 panels. Lived: the first panel is as wide as the page and holds swamp forests and seas, hundreds of millions of years ago. Buried: the second panel is wider still and has to fold out. It is millions of years under rock. Found: the third is as thin as a pencil line, with a mine and a well in it. Burned: the last is thinner than that and holds one match.
Coal, Oil and Gas argue about who is oldest4 panels. Lived: Coal says its swamp forests grew hundreds of millions of years ago. Oil and Gas say their sea life lived millions of years ago too. Buried: all three agree on the next part, which was rock on top, pressure, heat and a very long wait. Found: people reach them by mine and by well. Burned: each is burned in an afternoon, and nobody argues about that.
The shop that cannot order more4 panels. Lived: a shopkeeper explains that the stock came from plants and animals of long ago. Buried: "Then millions of years under rock, with pressure and heat." Found: the shelves hold coal, oil and gas, all taken from the ground. Burned: a customer buys some, burns it and comes back for more. The sign on the door reads "Nonrenewable. Next delivery takes a very long time."
Three fuels, three ways to make electricity4 panels. Lived: swamp plants on one side of the panel, sea life on the other. Buried: both under rock, changed by pressure and heat. Found: coal, oil and gas arrive at three power stations. Burned: coal boils water into steam for a turbine. Gas burns inside a turbine. Diesel fuel made from oil runs an engine that turns a generator. The same light bulb glows three times.
Three ways out of the ground, by a mine and two wells4 panels. Lived: plants and animals, a very long time ago. Buried: millions of years of pressure and heat under rock. Found: coal is dug out by machines, oil comes up a drilled well, and gas flows up a well of its own. Burned: they meet again at the edge of town, at a power plant, a gas station and a kitchen.
What goes up the chimney4 panels. Lived: plants and animals of long ago, their remains rich in carbon. Buried: the carbon stays in their remains as pressure and heat make coal, oil and gas. Found: the three fuels are taken out of the ground. Burned: each one gives off carbon dioxide as it burns. Gas gives off less than coal or oil for the same energy, and reminds the other two.
How it works
These comic strip ideas for fossil fuels each give a labeled beat per panel: lived, buried, found, burned. Choose Coal, Oil, Natural gas or All three fuels.
Read the full guide
The four beats every strip keeps
Lived: coal began as plants in swampy forests, hundreds of millions of years ago. Oil and natural gas began as tiny plants and animals of ancient seas. Buried: layers of sand, silt and rock covered the remains, and pressure and heat changed them over millions of years. Found: coal is mined, and oil and gas come up wells. Burned: the fuel gives heat, moves an engine or makes electricity.
Longer strips
A fifth or sixth panel shows one more step: plants turning to peat, oil separated at a refinery, gas sent down a pipeline, or steam spinning a turbine.
Draw the Buried panel taller than the rest, with the layers stacked. It stands for millions of years.
Questions and answers
How do you make a comic strip about fossil fuels?
Pick one fuel and give it a voice, such as a lump of coal filling in a form that asks its age. Draw four panels in order: the living things, the burial, the mine or well, and the fuel being burned.
What are the three fossil fuels?
Coal, oil and natural gas. Coal is a black or brownish-black rock, crude oil is a liquid, and natural gas is mostly methane. The U.S. Energy Information Administration calls all three nonrenewable, because they take a very long time to form.
Are fossil fuels made from dinosaurs?
No. The U.S. Energy Information Administration names other sources: plants of swampy forests for coal, and for oil and natural gas the remains of tiny sea plants and animals such as diatoms.
What is a funny fossil fuel comic idea?
A toy dinosaur who takes the credit for gasoline and is corrected by a diatom, a barrel that gives back more than was put in, or a natural gas that has no smell and is handed one on purpose.