Student Exploration: Carbon Cycle
Directions: Type your responses in red.
Vocabulary: atmosphere, biomass, biosphere, carbon reservoir, carbon sink,
... [Show More] fossil fuel, geosphere, greenhouse gas, hydrosphere, lithosphere, photosynthesis
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
In the process of photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and water (H2O) from the soil. Using the energy of sunlight, plants build molecules of glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2).
1. How do plants on Earth affect the amount of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere?
Plants take carbon from the atmosphere to photosynthesis
2. Animals eat plants and produce carbon dioxide and water. How do animals affect the
amount of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere?
Through food chains, the carbon that is in plants moves to the animals that eat them. Animals that eat other
animals get the carbon from their food too.
Gizmo Warm-up
The Carbon Cycle Gizmo allows you to follow the many paths an atom of carbon can take through Earth’s systems. To begin, notice the black carbon atom in the Atmospheric CO2 area, highlighted in yellow. The glowing blue areas represent possible locations the carbon atom could go next.
1. From Earth’s atmosphere, where can the carbon atom go
next? The earth's atmosphere goes to the oceanic next
2. Click on Land plants and read the description. How did the carbon atom get from the
atmosphere to a plant?
dissolves into rainwater, forming a weak, carbonic acid(H2CO2), reacts with minerals in the rocks to dissolve
3. Select Land animals. How did the carbon atom get from land plants into the animal?
Carbon atom gets from land plants into the animal because land animals consume plants for enegry
4. Select Atmospheric CO2. How did the carbon atom get from land animals back to the
atmosphere?
The carbon atom gets back to the atmosphere from the land animals by cellular respiration
Introduction: Earth can be divided into four systems. The atmosphere is the air above Earth’s surface. The hydrosphere is composed of all of Earth’s water. The geosphere is the rocky, non-living part of Earth. The biosphere consists of all living things, including people. Some scientists use the term “anthroposphere” to describe everything made or modified by humans.
Question: How does carbon move between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere?
1. Explore: Use the Gizmo to create a path for carbon that begins and ends in the atmosphere. Fill in the steps in the path below. Then, label each location with the system it represents. Finally, summarize very briefly how the carbon atom got to that location.
Carbon path System How it got there
Atmospheric CO2 Atmosphere Atmospheric CO2 comes from volcanoes,
burning fossil fuels, and other sources.
Oceanic CO
2
Dissolves in cold ocean surface waters. the colder the water more CO2 can be dissolved
dissolved oceanic CO2 as a source for their calcium carbonate
shells, coral , other calcium carbonate
Limestone Geosphere
structures pile up on the ocean floor. compresses into limestone
Cement plant Geosphere Cement, most consumed substance on earth.
Atmosphere The calcium oxide is used to make cement, while the carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere.
2. Create: Click Reset. Use the Gizmo to create a path in which the carbon atom goes from the atmosphere to the hydrosphere, biosphere and geosphere. Describe each transition briefly.
Atmosphere Hydrosphere Biosphere Geosphere
Atmospheric CO2 Oceanic CO2 Marine plants/algae Sediments
Volcanoes, burning fossil fuels, and other sources.
Cold temperatures from the ocean dissolves CO2 and stores it into deep waters. Plants and Algae go through photosynthesis Plants and Algae sink to the bottom of the ocean building up large amounts of carbon.
(Activity A continued on next page)
Activity A (continued from previous page)
3. Explore: Use the Gizmo to create three more carbon paths, each starting and ending in the atmosphere. Label each location with A for atmosphere, B for biosphere, G for geosphere, or H for hydrosphere. (You can also use P for anthroposphere if you like, or just include it in the biosphere.)
Path 1:
Path 2:
Path 3:
A -> G -> H -> A
A -> B -> B -> A
A -> G -> H -> B -> G -> P -> A (Lithosphere) -> G -> A
4. Explain: Based on the Gizmo, explain how the following transitions might take place:
A. Describe at least two ways that carbon can get from a land plant to the atmosphere.
Land plants get to the atmosphere due to the animals resiration
Carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuels are burned.
B. Describe at least two ways that carbon can get from the atmosphere to the
Carbon can leave the soil through soil respiration – which releases
hydrosphere. CO2, or by erosion – which can carry it into rivers or the ocean,
where it then enters the hydrosphere.
the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by human activity can release carbon into the atmosphere.
C. Can you find two ways that carbon can get from the ocean to the lithosphere? (The lithosphere is the rigid layer of the Earth, including the crust and part of the mantle.)
the carbon is compressed into rock and occasionally fossil fuels like coal and oil in the lithosphere.
The ocean also absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is incorporated into the shells of animals as calcium carbonate.
D. Describe at least two ways that carbon can get from seashells to the atmosphere.
Seashells pile up with coral and other calcium carbonte to compress
into limestone
Many organisms use carbon to make calcium carbonate, a building
material of shells and skeletons. [Show Less]