CARBON CYCLEAnd how it has been effected

WHERE CAN CARBON BE LOCATED?

• Carbon is a non-metallic element that is the basis for all living things.

• Carbon is found in all kinds of different compounds. The one you may be most comfortable with is CO2 or Carbon Dioxide.

• On earth the most common places to find carbon is in the ocean, atmosphere, below ground, and in living things.

LIVING THINGS

• Animals take in carbon as the bodies of primary producers and transfer that carbon into their own bodies, bones, or shells. As animals use energy to grow and reproduce

ATMOSPHERE

• Carbon exists in the atmosphere mostly as carbon dioxide—a gas. Carbon dioxide is essential for life on Earth because producers, like plants and algae, use it for photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is also one of the gases in the atmosphere that trap heat in our atmosphere, which is essential to life on Earth.

UNDERGROUND

• Fossil Fuels were formed very long ago from plant or animal remains that were buried, compressed, and transformed into oil, coal, or natural gas. The carbon is said to be "fixed" in place and is essentially locked out of the natural carbon cycle

OCEAN• Carbon dioxide from the

atmosphere dissolves in the surface waters of the ocean.

• Some of the carbon dioxide stays as dissolved gas, but much of it gets turned into other things.

Photosynthesis by tiny marine plants (phytoplankton) in the sunlit surface waters turns the carbon into organic matter. Many organisms use carbon to make calcium carbonate, a building material of shells and skeletons. Other chemical processes create calcium carbonate in the water.

CARBON CYCLE• The carbon cycle is the natural movement and recycling

of carbon on Earth, kind of like the water cycle. Similar to the water cycle, Carbon moves through some areas quickly while settling in other areas for long periods of time. • You are going to be broken up into four different areas.

Take turns rolling the carbon dice to determine your location. If you roll the area that you are already in, you will return to the back of the line. • Record every area your dice rolls on the paper you are

given. You will need this information later.