AP Environmental Science Unit 1.4: The Carbon Cycle

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: $global warming$.