Final answer:
Fossil fuels, which include coal, petroleum, and natural gas, are named for their content of solar energy preserved from past geologic ages. They are long-term storage of ancient sunlight transformed into chemical energy over millions of years. The correct answer is C. fossil fuels.
Step-by-step explanation:
Fossil fuels are named such because they contain solar energy preserved from past geologic ages. These include coal, petroleum, and natural gas which resulted from the anaerobic decay of dead plants and animals laid down hundreds of millions of years ago. This energy is considered a form of long-term storage of ancient sunlight, capturing it in plant matter and ending up buried underground as chemical energy.
Unlike other forms of energy storage, fossil fuels have superior energy density and have been stored for tens or hundreds of millions of years. They were formed from the transformation of sunlight into vegetation and the chemical transformation brought about by anaerobic cooking at high pressures and temperatures over geologic times.
Therefore, the correct answer to the question is C. fossil fuels, as they are the energy sources that fit the description of containing preserved solar energy from prehistoric times.