The Importance of Carbon! Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend!

What is Carbon? Carbon is a naturally occurring element, and creates the hardest known materials on Earth It is found on the periodic table, atomic number 6 Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is a product of carbon and is a pollutant

Little Known Facts? Carbon creates the hardest mineral on EarthCarbon creates the hardest mineral on Earth That Mineral is a diamond Carbon forms coal which hides that beautiful gem Diamonds can only be cut by other carbon based diamond drills!

What is the Carbon Cycle? Matter that is used over and over again takes up space, has mass, and has a repeating cycle. The movement of carbon from the environment into living things and back to the environment –English translation…. The carbon cycle is similar to the water cycle in that it is on-going.

Carbon Cycle Carbon enters an ecosystem (all living things live in some kind of ecosystem) when living things (plants, humans, and animals) take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Plants do this during photosynthesis

Fossil Fuels Organic substances such as coal, oil, and natural gas that is used as an energy source and is formed from the remains of organisms (former living things) that lived many years ago.

Fossil Fuels are a nonrenewable resource because they were formed from the remains of plant and animal matter from many years ago. Once they are gone, they are gone forever!

Transpiration The process of evaporation from plants. Basically, plants sweating.

Transpiration Environmental factors that can affect transpiration: Light Temperature Humidity Wind Soil Water

Consumers Heterotrophs Do not create their own food. Eat plants and other animals to obtain energy

Why do we need Carbon? Carbon is essential to all living things because all living things have tiny molecules of carbon living inside When we breathe we inhale oxygen to survive, our bodies produce carbon dioxide, and it is exhaled from our lungs. Just breathing may cause the atmosphere to hold heat. So the next time your teacher says stop talking so much…do it for the environment!

Carbon Cycle

Global Warming Global warming is a theory! It continues to change every year. Global warming- The theory that the temperature of the Earth is rising and causing negative events worldwide. Greenhouse Effect- The earth is releasing more carbon than we are using, causing excessive amounts of carbon molecules in the atmosphere. Carbon molecules in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun.

Summary When we burn fossil fuels we add to the seemingly endless supply of carbon in the atmosphere.When we burn fossil fuels we add to the seemingly endless supply of carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide causes the atmosphere to hold heat.Carbon dioxide causes the atmosphere to hold heat. Warmer atmosphere causes the temperatures of the land and oceans to rise.Warmer atmosphere causes the temperatures of the land and oceans to rise.

Vocabulary Terms Photosynthesis- the process plants use to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and make energy; in the carbon cycle plants use carbon dioxide from the air to make sugars Erosion – the wearing away of top soil by wind or water Decomposition – the breakdown of dead materials into carbon dioxide and water Respiration – the exchange of gases by living things. Breathing out carbon dioxide, breathing in oxygen. Fossil Fuels – come from buried remains of long-dead organisms; to be burned for energy

Vocabulary Terms Carbon cycle – the movement of carbon from the environment into living things and back to the environment; Life exists because carbon can be cycled within the Earth and the atmosphere Combustion- the process of burning, (fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal or petroleum Transpiration- the process in which some water within plants evaporates back into the atmosphere. (Plant sweat) Nitrogen – a type of gas that has neither smell nor color that is a large part of the atmosphere and the air we breathe Decompose – the break down of organic materials