Vocabulary

Overview

• Biogeochemical Cycles: Cycles of elements as they move through living and nonliving factors.

• Reservoirs: Places where elements are stored for part of the time.

• Pathways: Processes that move the elements between the reservoirs.

• Biomass: Renewable energy that comes from organic matter/organisms.

Carbon Cycle

• Organic Compounds: Compounds that have carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds.

• Photosynthesis: The process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar.

• Cellular Respiration: The process of breakdown of food in cells and organisms with the release of energy.

• Combustion: Occurs when any organic material is reacted (burned) in the presence of oxygen to give off the products of carbon dioxide, water, and energy.

• Anaerobic Decomposition: Decomposition without the use of oxygen.

• Fossil Fuel Formation: Dead organic matter builds up underground faster than it can be anaerobically decomposed, and sediment pressurizes it.

• Diffusion: Molecules moving from an area of higher concentration to one of lower concentration.

• Shell Formation: To build shells, marine life extracts calcium and carbonate ions from ocean water, combining them to make shells.

• Deposition: The laying down of sediment carried by wind, flowing water, the sea or ice.

The Carbon Cycle

Reservoirs

• Atmosphere: The layers of gases surrounding a planet or other celestial body.

  • Contains Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane (CH4 - converts to CO2 and H2O through exposure to Ozone).

• Biosphere: The part of Earth’s surface where life exists.

  • Contains consumers, biomass, and organic molecules (ex: Glucose [C6H12O6]).

• Lithosphere: The solid, outer part of Earth, including the brittle upper portion of the mantle and the crust.

  • Contains fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and Limestone (CaCO3).

• Hydrosphere: All the waters on the Earth’s surface.

  • Contains CO2 and Carbonate (CO3^-2).

• Ocean Biosphere: The part of the Ocean where life exists.

  • Contains organisms, biomass, organic molecules (ex: Glucose [C6H12O6]), and Calcium Carbonate.

Pathways

• Atmosphere to Biosphere

  • Photosynthesis

    • Carbon Dioxide (CO2) → Plants

• Biosphere to Atmosphere

  • Cellular Respiration

    • Consumers → Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

  • Combustion

    • Organic Material → Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

  • Anaerobic Decomposition

    • Organic Material → Methane (CH4)

  

  Biosphere to Lithosphere

  • Fossil Fuel Formation

    • Dead organic matter → Lithosphere

  • Soil Absorption

    • Carbon stored in dead plants’ roots → Lithosphere

  

  Lithosphere to Atmosphere

  • Combustion of Fossil Fuels

    • Fossil Fuels → Atmosphere

  • Volcanic Eruptions

    • Lithosphere → Atmosphere

• 

Atmosphere to Hydrosphere

• Diffusion

  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2) → CO2

• Precipitation

  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2) → Mixes with water (H2O) in the air → Carbonic Acid (H2CO3)

• Hydrosphere to Ocean Biosphere

  • Photosynthesis

    • Carbon Dioxide (CO2)→ Plants

  • Shell Formation

    • Carbonate (CO3-2) → Mixes with Calcium (Ca+2) in the water → Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3)

• Ocean Biosphere to Lithosphere

  • Deposition of Organic Matter

    • Biomass → Fossil Fuels

  • Deposition of Shells

    • Shells (containing Calcium Carbonate) →Limestone

Human Disruption

• Deforestation

  • Fewer trees/plants mean less photosynthesis and glucose.

    • More carbon in the air.

      • More carbon in the air makes more carbonic acid and more acid rain.

      • More carbon in the air = more heat: global warming.

• Combustion of Fossil Fuels

  • Used to take millions of years to release fossil fuels into the Atmosphere.

  • Humans are burning it and quickly transferring it to the atmosphere.

    • Traps a lot of heat: global warming.