You are a molecule of carbon. Choose a starting point in the carbon cycle and describe the process you would go through to move through the entire cycle.
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CO2 and the Carbon cycle:
CO2, also called carbon dioxide, is an essential constituent of the atmosphere, and a greenhouse gas. One of the most important among carbon and its compounds, it is essential to all life for one major reason: it is consumed by plants, which by the process of photosynthesis, use light as a catalyst to convert CO2 and water to glucose. In the process, they produce oxygen, which is used by nearly every living being that isn’t a plant.
Now, when these plants die, they get buried and can follow one of two paths. They can either act as nutrient sources for the growth of new plants, or they can get compressed over millions of years and form fossil fuels like coal. The carbon from the dead plants can enter the new, living plants, and from there into herbivores and then into carnivores. The animals too die and serve as nutrition for plants, and the cycle begins again. The fuels are consumed in factories and CO2 may be produced.
A major problem has now arisen due to the consumption of fossil fuels (which, obviously, is not a natural process). More CO2 than should exist is being produced, among other gases, and this imbalance leads to the greenhouse effect and global warming, which in turn leads to melting of ice caps and extinction of various species.
CO2, also called carbon dioxide, is an essential constituent of the atmosphere, and a greenhouse gas. One of the most important among carbon and its compounds, it is essential to all life for one major reason: it is consumed by plants, which by the process of photosynthesis, use light as a catalyst to convert CO2 and water to glucose. In the process, they produce oxygen, which is used by nearly every living being that isn’t a plant.
Now, when these plants die, they get buried and can follow one of two paths. They can either act as nutrient sources for the growth of new plants, or they can get compressed over millions of years and form fossil fuels like coal. The carbon from the dead plants can enter the new, living plants, and from there into herbivores and then into carnivores. The animals too die and serve as nutrition for plants, and the cycle begins again. The fuels are consumed in factories and CO2 may be produced.
A major problem has now arisen due to the consumption of fossil fuels (which, obviously, is not a natural process). More CO2 than should exist is being produced, among other gases, and this imbalance leads to the greenhouse effect and global warming, which in turn leads to melting of ice caps and extinction of various species.
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Answer: Carbon in carbon dioxide gas is taken in by plants for photosynthesis.
Plants turn the carbon atom into a carbohydrate.
An animal eats the plant and uses its carbohydrates for energy.
During respiration, the animal releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
Explanation:
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