Carbon is a nonmetal element that is essential to life on Earth and is continuously cycled through the atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, and Earth's crust. It forms the basis of all living organisms and is a key component in regulating the planet's climate. The carbon cycle describes how carbon continuously moves between the atmosphere, living things, oceans, and Earth's crust through natural processes like respiration, photosynthesis, and volcanic eruptions. However, human activities like burning fossil fuels have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, disrupting the natural carbon cycle and causing climate change.

1. CARBON CYCLE

2. Carbon is the chemical
element of atomic number
6, a nonmetal which has
two main forms (diamond
and graphite) and which
also occurs in impure form
in charcoal, soot, and coal.

3. Carbon is represented by
the symbol ‘C’ and is the
fourth most abundant
element in our solar
system, only surpassed
by hydrogen,helium and
oxygen

4. Plants and trees are
made up of a large
proportion of carbon,
hence their importance
to the Carbon cycle. The
chemical composition of
wood differs from
various species, sizes
and locations of the
organic material.

5. Carbon is the foundation of all life
on Earth, required to form complex
molecules like proteins and DNA.
This element is also found in our
atmosphere in the form of carbon
dioxide (CO2). Carbon helps to
regulate the Earth’s temperature,
makes all life possible and is a key
ingredient in the food that sustains
us.

6. Overall, wood has an elemental
composition of about 50% carbon,
44% oxygen, 6% hydrogen, and
trace amounts of several other
elements (mainly calcium,
potassium, sodium, magnesium,
iron, and manganese) . Trees absorb
carbon dioxide and release oxygen
in the process of photosynthesis.

7. Carbon is an important component of our
atmosphere as it is both naturally cycled and
unnaturally emitted. It is released naturally
through respiration, soil upheaval, volcanic
eruptions and its natural cycles within the earth’s
atmosphere. Although, the burning of fossil fuels
(oil, natural gas, and coal), solid waste, trees and
wood products, and chemical processes are
adding an unnatural amount of C02 into the
carbon cycle.

8. The carbon cycle describes the process in which carbon atoms
continually travel from the atmosphere to the Earth and then back
into the atmosphere. Since our planet and its atmosphere form a
closed environment, the amount of carbon in this system does not
change naturally. The carbon is constantly fluctuating depending on
the cycles within earths system. Carbon is released back into the
atmosphere when organisms die, volcanoes erupt, fires blaze, fossil
fuels are burned, and through a variety of other mechanisms. On
Earth, most carbon is stored in rocks and sediments, while the rest is
located in the ocean, atmosphere, and in living organisms. These are
the reservoirs, or sinks, through which carbon cycles. In the case of the
ocean, carbon is continually exchanged between the ocean’s surface
waters and the atmosphere, or is stored for long periods of time in the
ocean depths.

10. Humans play a major role in the carbon cycle through activities such
as the burning of fossil fuels or land development. The current
influence of human alteration to the environment is called the
Anthropocene, which correlates to recent human impact. Humanity is
drastically altering the earth's climate and are disrupting the climatic
stability of the present geological era of the Holocene. Humans are
adding excessive additional carbon into the atmosphere through
various systemic modern impacts that have been exacerbated since
the industrial revolution. We have surpassed 415 parts per million of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which as altered the chief
regulating compound of our climate. We have caused climatic
irregularities that are surpassing previous records and even previous
recorded mass extinctions. It is relevant to say that humanity is
walking on thin ice.

12. Carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon
dioxide (CO2) are quite similar. They’re
both odourless, colourless gasses with
similar names, which is why they’re so
often confused with one another.
Another quality they share is they can
both be deadly if they exceed certain
levels. The difference between the
compound is the level of oxygen
particles that it binds to. Carbon
monoxide binds to one oxygen particle
and Carbon dioxide binds to two oxygen
particles.
The atomic mass of carbon
(c) is 12.001 and the atomic
mass of oxygen is 16, so the
atomic mass of C02 = 44.
C

14. Carbon dioxide is one-part carbon and two parts oxygen. This is a
natural gas in the atmosphere that is a by-product of our existence
on Earth – specifically, human and animal respiration, the
combustion of fossil fuels and wood, fermentation, and other causes.
While carbon dioxide is a naturally-occurring gas, it can be harmful in
highly concentrated amounts. As it currently stands, the average CO2
level on the planet is 415 ppm (parts per million).
Because of its natural characteristics, CO2 poisoning is quite rare.
Internal combustion engines or leaking CO2 tanks do have the ability
to subject individuals to dangerously high levels of CO2, so it doesn’t
hurt to know the signs and symptoms, which can include dizziness,
fatigue, and headaches.

16. Carbon dioxide is the most prominent of the greenhouse gases.
Sources of atmospheric CO2 include volcanoes, the combustion and
decay of organic matter, respiration by aerobic (oxygen-using)
organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels, clearing of land, and
production of cement by humans.
These sources are balanced, on average, by a set of physical,
chemical, or biological processes, called "sinks," that tend to remove
CO2 from the atmosphere.
Plant life, which takes up CO2 during the process of photosynthesis,
is an important natural sink. In the oceans, marine life can absorb
dissolved CO2, and some marine organisms even use CO2 to build
skeletons and other structures made of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).