Carbon Cycle

What is Carbon?
❏ Carbon is a non-metallic element.
❏ At room temperature it is in a solid state.
❏ Carbon exists in different forms,including
graphite,diamond and graphene.
❏ Depending on its form carbon has different
properties.
❏ Carbon is made up of just one type of atom.This
means carbon is an element.
❏ Carbon atoms are arranged in a regular
pattern,meaning carbon is solid at room
temperature.
What is Carbon Cycle?
❏ The carbon cycle is nature's way of reusing carbon atoms, which
travel from the atmosphere into organisms in the Earth and then
back into the atmosphere over and over again. Most carbon is stored
in rocks and sediments, while the rest is stored in the ocean,
atmosphere, and living organisms.
Fossil Fuel, a Carbon
Deposit
What is Fossil Fuel?
❏ Fossil fuels are formed from the decomposition of buried
carbon-based organisms that died millions of years ago.
❏ Carbon based organisms are all living organisms.
❏ The fossil fuel are non-renewable and currently
supply around 80% of the world's energy.
❏ Fossil fuels create carbon-rich deposits that are
extracted and burned for energy.
❏ The energy conversion goes from chemical energy
stored in the fuels, to heat energy as it burns which
is converted to kinetic energy as it drives large
turbines and finally this is converted to electrical
energy.
H ow does Fossil fuel release Carbon Dioxide?

❏ When Fossil fuels (i.e. wood, coal, natural gas,

gasoline, and oil) are burned, carbon dioxide is
released. During combustion or burning, carbon
from fossil fuels combine with oxygen in the air
to form carbon dioxide.
Ocean, A Carbon
Reservoir
This slide is for Tenzin Kyishong
Sea water is known as carbon sink as it has sucked up about a quarter of the carbon dioxide given out since human
began burning fossil fuel during the Industrial Revolution.

Sea water contains around 50 times more carbon dioxide than the air in the atmosphere.

The carbon dioxide dissolves in the sea to form carbonic acid which converts carbonates into bicarbonates.
Carbon Dioxide, Earth’s
temperature regulator.
❏ The Earth absorbs most of the energy reaching its surface, a
small fraction is reflected. In total approximately 70% of
incoming radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and the
Earth's surface while around 30% is reflected back to space
and does not heat the surface.
❏ Carbon Dioxide has the unique property of absorbing infrared
rays of the sun,thus,keeping the earth warm.
● Sunlight travels through space at nearly 300,000 kilometers per
second (186,000 miles per second). When sunlight strikes the
Earth, it is mostly reflected or absorbed. Reflected light
bounces back into space while absorbed light is the source of
energy that drives processes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere,
and biosphere.
Weathering
What is weathering?
❏ Weathering is the breakdown of rocks at the Earth's
surface, by the action of rainwater, extremes of
temperature, and biological activity.
There are three types of weathering;
1. Physical
2. Chemical
3. Biological
 Chemical
❏ Chemical weathering changes the molecular structure of
rocks and soil.
❏ Carbon dioxide reacts with water in solution to form the
weak acid, carbonic acid.
❏ Carbonic acid disassociates into hydrogen ions and
bicarbonate ions.
❏ The hydrogen ions and water react with most common
minerals (silicates and carbonates) altering the minerals.
 Physical
❏ The process that breaks rocks apart without changing
their chemical composition.
 Biological
❏ Biological weathering occurs when plants break up rocks
with roots or root exudates.
 Role of Carbon Cycle in
Maintaining the Atmospheric
Composition
Role of Carbon Cycle Maintaining Atmospheric
Composition

❏ Carbon is the chemical backbone of life on Earth. Carbon compounds

regulate the Earth’s temperature, make up the food that sustains us, and
provide energy that fuels our global economy
❏ Throughout Earth's history, carbon has cycled naturally between the
ocean, the biosphere and the atmosphere. -This continual cycle
regulates the amount of carbon dioxide (Co2) in the atmosphere.
❏ Co2, and other greenhouse gases mix easily into the global atmosphere,
and act as a kind of blanket to trap some of the radiation reflected from
the Earth's surface.Earths surface.
❏ This ʻGreenhouse Effectʼ keeps the planet much warm than it should be, allowing life on earth to flourish.
❏ Due to industrial revolution, people began to dig up and burn huge amounts
of fossil fuels *This long buried carbon would have taken millions of years to
enter the atmosphere, but is now being suddenly released in a ‘Geological
Instant’
Importance of maintaining carbon cycle in the atmosphere
❏ Maintaining carbon balance allows the planet to remain hospitable for life.
❏ From an environmental perspective, carbon provides insulation by trapping the
suns heat.
❏ From a biological perspective, carbon is the building block of life and forms stable
bonds with other elements necessary for life
❏ Carbon Dioxide controls the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and thus
the size of greenhouse effect
❏ This cycle is important for maintaining a stable climate and carbon balance on
Earth, and the carbon cycle will keep the concentration of carbon balance on
Earth- The carbon cycle will keep the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere balanced and global temperatures steady.
❏ The carbon cycle is nature’s way of reusing carbon atoms, which travel from the
atmosphere into organisms in the Earth and then back into the atmosphere and
over again.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Carbon Cycle

Advantages

● Reduces the production and usage of fossil fuel methane

● Reduces the reliance on foreign energy imports
● Diverts massive amounts of organic landfills
● Supports the natural carbon cycle and emissions into the
atmosphere
● It helps in transfer of energy which is mostly in the form of
carbon compound
 Disadvantages
● The major impact on carbon cycle is the climatic change
like the effect of temperature and precipitation
● Climatic change can disturb the process of carbon cycle
● Due to carbon cycle, Carbon Dioxide(C02) is produced,
which is very harmful
● There is decrease in forest and it can have a negative
impact on carbon cycle and our environment
Conclusion
Question
and
Answer
Everyone can add in questions in form of
MCQ, Fill in the blanks and anything else

1. What happens in biological weathering?

2. Do you think Carbon Dioxide is important