The Carbon Cycle

Keywords

Carbon cycle, plants, decomposers, oil, gas, coal, dying, decay, climate change, fossil fuel, methane, power plant, carbon sink, sequestration, photosynthesis, plankton, algae.

Introduction

The carbon cycle is the process that explains how we use carbon, how it is retrieved and is linked to fossil fuels, and also how nature contends with it. There are several steps here, as with the water cycle.

The Beginning: Photosynthesis

Just like in the water cycle, plants are involved with the carbon cycle too. They photosynthesise, and release oxygen into the environment, which effectively helps the carbon cycle and climate, as they take in carbon dioxide, along with other gases around that.

The plants do this more when the sun is out, and take in oxygen during the night.

Animals & Decay

Animals contribute to the carbon cycle by living, breathing, eating and [eventually] dying. The same with any organism. They live, breathe, eat, sleep and repeat until they reach an age where they die, and then are either buried or just decay away peacefully. This has been going on for millennia, and has created what we know as fossil fuels.

Interesting fact: a cow can create methane, which is changed back to carbon dioxide for plants to consume. The fossil fuels create almost 10 times as much carbon dioxide as cows do.

Fossil Fuels

A fossil fuel is one of three types: coal, oil and natural gas. These three have been the backbone of our way of life since the early 1900s. We use them all for various reasons. Petrol, a refined liquid from the oil we find, is used in cars. Natural gas is used to heat our homes. Oil is used to lubricate our cars, as well as many other uses.

Processing of Fossil Fuels

If you live in the UK, and you drive up the motorways of the country from the South to North, you might have seen a few power plants or steam vents along the way. These are processing plants that work with coal, oil and gas we get from under the ground. When we process these, they create a carbon footprint, which is a negative factor on the carbon cycle, as it creates more carbon dioxide than is necessary.

Carbon Dioxide in the Air

Through the above process, as well as the plants adding to the carbon dioxide footprint, the carbon dioxide is released into the air. This obviously causes us to have issues that are very current. Climate change. There are steps we can all take to change this - drive our cars less, walk more, eat less meat, and so on.

Carbon Sinks

A carbon sink is a natural or man-made source that absorbs carbon, and releases only a smaller amount back into the atmosphere.

Natural Resources

To think of it as a shoe box, you can fill that shoe box with more than just shoes, right? I mean, there's still space around the shoe to fit other, smaller items around it. So, in terms of the box, you could put sand in it, for example. Go on, on top of the shoes. That's good. Now, what if I want to remove the shoes? Well, you can, but they may be covered in sand.

To put that into natural perspective, let's look at an ocean. They are vast, and there are seven of them. The ocean takes up to 50% of the carbon from the atmosphere and repurposes it. How? Well, in the ocean are organisms that use it for energy. Much like trees (we'll come to that) do the same thing, so do plankton, photosynthetic organisms and algae. They photosynthesis or "breathe in" the carbon in some form, and release oxygen.

So, what about the trees? Oh yes, they are a carbon sink also, and they photosynthesise, which uses the carbon to create oxygen and energy. They, however, do not create as much as the algae and oceans do in terms of oxygen, nor do they take in as much carbon.

Artificial Techniques

So, we've covered the natural resources and how they work in carbon sinks, but what about man-made techniques?

Well, there are many ways to do this, like sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and moving it down into the lower crust of the Earth. This type of technology is still in it's infancy, and it has not yet become powerful enough to help combat climate change.