BIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Carbon cycle
Done by ;
Name : k.sreelekha
Class : 9 - kalpana chawla
The carbon cycle
What is carbon cycle?
The carbon cycle is the process that moves carbon between plants, animals,
and microbes; minerals in the earth; and the atmosphere. Carbon is the fourth
most abundant element in the universe. With its ability to form complex
molecules such as DNA and proteins, carbon makes life on Earth possible
Nature's carbon sources
Carbon is found in the
Carbon is found in the Carbon is found in the
atmosphere mostly as Carbon is found in the
lithosphere biosphere stored in
carbon hydrosphere dissolved in
in the form of carbonate rocks. plants and
dioxide. Animal and plant ocean
Carbonate rocks came from trees. Plants use carbon
respiration place carbon water and lakes.
ancient marine plankton that dioxide
into Carbon is used by many
sunk from the atmosphere to
the atmosphere. When you organisms to produce shells.
to the bottom of the ocean make
exhale, you are placing Marine plants use cabon for
hundreds of millions of years the building blocks of
carbon photosynthesis.
ago food
dioxide into the
that were then exposed to heat during photosynthesis.
atmosphere.
and pressure.
Natural carbon releases into the atmosphere
Carbon is released into the atmosphere from both natural and man-made causes.
Here are examples to how nature places carbon into the atmosphere.
Gases containing carbon move
Volcanic activity is a source of carbon into the
between
atmosphere.
the ocean’s surface and the
atmosphere
through a process called diffusion.
How do humans place carbon in atmosphere?
Deforestation. When we cut down Wood burning. When we burn Combustion of fossil fuels. We
trees wood, extract fossils
and forests, they can no longer the carbon stored in the trees fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) from
remove
becomes carbon dioxide and the
carbon dioxide from the air. This
results enters ground and burn them for energy at
in additional carbon dioxide placed the atmosphere. power
in the plants. The burning of fossil fuels is
atmosphere. called
combustion. Fossil fuel combustion
releases
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
How much carbon is in the atmosphere?
Climate scientist Charles Keeling measured atmospheric carbon dioxide levels between 1958-2005
at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the northern slopes of Earth’s largest volcano in Hawaii. His data,
shown below, show the steady increase of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
The red regular wobbles in the data reflect the
seasonal growth of trees and plants in the
Northern hemisphere. During the spring and
summer, trees and plants absorb carbon when
they undergo photosynthesis, reducing the
amount of carbon in the atmosphere. During
the fall and winter, they decay, releasing
carbon back into the atmosphere. This famous
data display is known as the Keeling curve.
The measurements shown in this curve
represent the world’s longest continuous
record of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This
data was the first to confirm the rise of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the
burning of fossil fuels.
How much carbon do humans emits?
Nature absorbs 788 billion tonnes of carbon every year. Natural absorptions roughly balance natural
emissions. Humans upset this balance. While some of our human-produced carbon dioxide emissions
are being absorbed by the ocean and land plants, around half of our carbon dioxide emissions remain in the air.
Human produced carbon dioxide
emissions have been increasing since
the Industrial Revolution.
The arrows in the image to the
left
show the amount of carbon that
is
exchanged between the
atmosphere
and the other Earth spheres.
The
numbers are in billions of tonnes
of
carbon dioxide.
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