Moving around the Carbon Cycle A Choose Your Own Adventure

The Atmosphere You are just a friendly carbon atom, element number six on the periodic table. Currently, you are bonded to two oxygen atoms, forming a substance called Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and you live in the atmosphere.

What should you do? From the atmosphere, there are two places you can go. The surface of the ocean. Plants can take you in through photosynthesis.

Plants You’ve been taken in during photosynthesis and are no longer carbon dioxide. Now you are combined with hydrogen and oxygen to form a sugar molecule (C6H12O6)!!! Should the plant die? Should the plant continue to live?

Surface of the Ocean Your little CO2 molecule has dissolved in the ocean. The ocean holds more carbon than any of the other reservoirs. Three things could now happen. It can be taken in by plankton. It can be taken in by plants. It can escape back into the atmosphere.

The Plant Died Sorry to tell you, the plant that you are a part of died. The good news is that since you are technically not a living thing (abiotic), you don’t have to die. You can continue on several ways. Decomposers put you into the soil. Decomposers return you to the atmosphere. Buried and turned in to fossil fuels. Burned by humans. If you are an aquatic plant, you will become ooze or coal.

The Plant is Alive!!! Many people forget that while plants do take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere using photosynthesis, they also do carry out some cellular respiration, which adds some CO2 to the atmosphere. Or, you could be eaten by the friendly neighborhood cow (or human).

The Plant was Eaten! That’s right, a wonderful cow has now eaten the plant that you are a part of. As you find yourself being digested, you are excited to participate in cellular respiration and give the cow energy. Two things can now happen. Sent back into the atmosphere as the waste products CO2 or CH4. Be buried, slowly turning into fossil fuels.

Plankton Many species of plankton take carbon to make shells. They convert it from CO2 to CaCO3 (Calcium Carbonate). They are the basis of the food web. Was your plankton eaten? Did it die and turn into ooze at the bottom of the ocean?

Aquatic Plants You’ve been taken in during photosynthesis and are no longer carbon dioxide. Now you are combined with hydrogen and oxygen to form a sugar molecule!!! Should the plant die? Should the plant continue to live? Should the plant get eaten?

Soil and Rock Soil is a major reservoir of carbon on the Earth. This is of particular note in the arctic areas, like the tundra. As the Earth gets warmer, the permafrost melts, releasing much of the carbon that is in the soil back into the atmosphere. If you are in a rock, you may be blown into the air by a volcano.

Fossil Fuels Fossil fuels are carbon compounds that have been created by decaying organic material like coal, oil, natural gas. We burn fossil fuels for fuel. As we do, more carbon that has been locked up in fossil fuels for millions of years is released into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen 30% over the past 150 years.

Burned by Humans Combustion is the process of burning something. Have you ever wondered where the material that you burn goes? It usually goes back into the atmosphere for you to breathe.

Plankton was Eaten That’s right, a large baleen whale ate the plankton that you are a part of. As you find yourself being digested, you are excited to participate in cellular respiration and give the whale energy. Two things can now happen. Sent back into the atmosphere as the waste products CO2 or CH4. The whale dies and settles to the bottom of the ocean.

Dead Whale at the Bottom of the Ocean Life at the bottom of the ocean is very hard, what with the near freezing temperatures and no light. But there are enough scavengers that will take care of most of your tissues. What’s left will be turned into limestone.

Limestone The limestone is locked away for a long time. However, some chemical reactions have an effect on limestone. You are most likely to be pushed into a volcano through tectonic plate movement and then blasted back into the atmosphere as CO2.

Calcareous Ooze This is a substance that forms at the bottom of the ocean. It’s made from billions and billions of dead marine organisms. Eventually, it will become limestone.

Burning Fossil Fuels has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Back to Fossil Fuels