Cycles

Water cycle

(no specific starting point)

Evaporation

• Water evaporated by suns rays from oceans, lakes, plants (transpiration) to water vapour

Precipitation

• All water vapour will condense and be blown to perch above land. This will then be released onto the land in the form of lakes and seep back into the earth, taken in by soil, bodies of water, or plants.
• Cycle repeats

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Carbon cycle

(no specific starting point)

Storing of carbon

• In the air as carbon dioxide
• In plants locked up as biological molecules
• In fossil fuels
• Underground in bacteria and fungi
• In animals

Photosynthesis

Carbon dioxide in the air taken in by plants to make glucose by photosynthesis

Animals

• Carbon passed onto the animals who ingest the plants

Respiration

• Carbon dioxide released back into the atmosphere in its gaseous state by both plants and animals

Decay

• Aerobic - after animals die, carbon is decayed but microorganisms that live in the soil (warm, moist aerobic conditions) in which they are broken down into small pieces until they are eventually released back into the atmosphere by a process called microbial respiration.
• Anaerobic - if carbon is unable to be decayed by microorganisms due to anaerobic conditions, carbon seeps underground where it is converted to fossil fuels like coal.

Combustion

• Fossil fuels produced underground can be burned by humans for energy and released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide
• Cycle repeats

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