I have been told that when the plants intake carbon dioxide they break carbon and oxygen apart and the carbon is utilised in making the plant's body. This process is driven by the sun's energy so when they decompose and form coal the bonds of coal have the sun's energy stored in it.
The above statement makes absolutely no sense to me.
When the sun's energy was utilised to separate carbon and oxygen how can the coal bonds store it?
If the coal bonds don't store the sun's energy where does the energy released on burning them come from?
