The Cycle of Carbon

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The Cycle of Carbon One of the most abundant elements of the earth to be used and reused for the process of life is carbon. Although oxygen is very important to us as human beings to be able to breath, carbon is necessary to sustain life as for all living things contain carbon. Not only does carbon sustain us, everything that we need in life is dependant of carbon. Carbon in the form of carbon dioxide (CO²) is exchanged through all spherical bodies of the earth and plays a very important part in lives of every organism as well as the creation and sustaining of most inorganic objects. Carbon is cycled throughout the planet by a process categorized as biogeochemistry, which studies the way a certain element progresses through earth as it passes back and forth between various earth systems which are the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Carbon is only one of six other elements that goes through the biogeochemical cycle, the other elements are hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur and oxygen. Carbon in the form of CO² makes up about 0.03% of the atmosphere and is found on surface bodies of water. One of the biggest consumers of carbon is the trees and plants of earth. They have the very important role of creating oxygen out of the carbon dioxide that they capture. Trees create this oxygen during a process called photosynthesis, which is the process of taking carbon dioxide and turning it into organic compounds. During that process, trees take carbon and water and the energy from light to create its own food. The end result of that process leaves a waste product which is oxygen. Forests are very big consumers of carbon and are some of the earth’s main producers of oxygen. Another big source of carbon is the ocean which contains a vast amount of carbon in the form of bicarbonate ions. A majority of carbon build up is located on the floor of the ocean
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