Carbon Cycle

Also called

carbon dioxide · CO2 · photosynthesis · respiration · decomposers · fossil fuels · coal · combustion · ocean carbon · carbon sink · biogeochemical cycle · global warming · carbon in the atmosphere · कार्बन चक्र · प्रकाश संश्लेषण · श्वसन

Topics

• Carbon is found in the air as CO₂, in living things, in soil and limestone, in fossil fuels and dissolved in the sea.
• Green plants take CO₂ from the air in photosynthesis and build it into glucose, releasing oxygen.
• Plants and animals respire, returning CO₂ to the air; eating passes carbon along food chains.
• Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria break down dead plants and animals and release their carbon as CO₂.
• Dead organisms buried for millions of years became coal and petroleum, which lock carbon away.
• Burning fuels and wood returns stored carbon to the air quickly as CO₂.
• Oceans absorb CO₂; sea animals use it to make shells, which can become limestone.
• CO₂ is only about 0.04% of the air, and the cycle normally keeps that level roughly steady.
• Burning fossil fuels and cutting forests add CO₂ faster than it is removed, so its level rises.

About this model

A GLB file of about 386 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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