Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/co2_cycle.html and answer these questions:
![Picture](/uploads/2/3/4/3/23430194/1380383684.png)
1) Draw the Carbon cycle.
2. How does carbon exist in the atmosphere?
Carbon is attached to oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide. Through the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is pulled from the air to make plant food from carbon.
3. How are fossil fuels created? Explain.
Carbon moves from plants and animals to the ground and when animals die, their bodies, wood and leaves decay bringing the carbon into the ground. Some become buried miles underground and will become fossil fuels in millions and millions of years.
4. Describe two ways that carbon enters the atmosphere.
When humans exhale they release carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. Also, carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuel are burned.
5. How are the oceans involved in the carbon cycle?
The oceans and their bodies soak up carbon from the atmosphere.
6. How is the temperature of the Earth partly controlled by carbon?
The carbon in the atmosphere traps heat and causes the planet to be warmer.
7. What role do rocks have within the carbon cycle?
The shells and bones of marine animals are made of limestone, which contains carbon. If deposited on the ocean floor, the carbon is then stored from the cycle until the limestone melts in subduction zone.
Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/earth/climate/carbon_cycle.html to play the carbon cycle game. You are a carbon atom!
8. Where are you starting within the carbon cycle?
Within the carbon cycle I am starting off as a carbon atom.
“Click to begin your journey”
9. How much of the atmosphere is made of carbon dioxide (CO2)?
A small amount (0.04%) of the atmosphere is made of carbon.
10. By how much has CO2 increased in the atmosphere during the past 150 years?
Because of burning fossil fuels, the amount has increased 30% during the past 150 years.
As you work through this game, take some notes about where you go as a carbon atom. Make sure you visit all reservoirs!
11. Next stop = Land Plants What did you learn?
- I have been taken out of the atmosphere by plant by photosynthesis
- Building block that make up plants
- Plants release carbon back to the atmosphere by respiration
12. Next stop = Soil What did you learn?
- Plant I as in died
- Detritus is decomposing plants and animals
- Soil is also made of inorganic parts such as sand, silt, and clay
- Soils store about 3% of Earth's carbon.
The deep ocean accounts for more than 65 % of the Earth’s carbon.
How much carbon does the surface ocean absorb from the atmosphere each year?
The surface ocean takes in approximately 90 Gigatons of carbon per year.
True or False: When plants die and decay, they bring carbon into soil.
True
13. Next stop = Atmosphere What did you learn?
- (0.04%) of the atmosphere is made of carbon dioxide.
- More carbon dioxide in our atmosphere makes our planet warmer.
14. Next stop = Surface Ocean What did you learn?
- The ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the land does
- Cold water absorbs carbon faster than warm water.
15. Next stop = Marine Life What did you learn?
- phytoplankton take in carbon to make the nutrition they need through a process
called photosynthesis.
- Marine life cannot survive without carbon, but high levels of carbon disolved in
ocean waters are harmful to marine organisms such as algae, mollusks and corals.
When carbon enters the deep ocean, how long does it stay there?
Carbon stays in deep ocean for hundreds of years.
-True/False: Phytoplankton are tiny plants and algae that float in the ocean and take up CO2 as they grow.
True
-True/False: Plants both absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and release it into the atmosphere.
True