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.

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