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Acid rain Ecology Environment Global warming Greenhouse effect Ozone layer Population, natural resources Climate change Soil pollution Earth day Carbon dioxide Retention Ecosystem Carbon cycle Smog End of the World Groundwater Recycling Computer recycling Glass recycling Metal recycling Paper recycling Water cycle Air pollution |
Carbon cycle in the nature
Many a time carbon moves in a closed cycle between the Earth's atmosphere, the Earth's crust, hydrosphere and organisms. Carbon is the main element included in the composition of organic compounds which bodies of organisms are made of. Carbon which is present in the cycle appears mainly in seas and oceans and there is about 16 times more of it in them than in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbonate (HCO3) and carbonate ions (CO2-3). In the atmosphere carbon is present in the form of carbon dioxide. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is incessantly absorbed by plants in the process of photosynthesis and it is returned to the atmosphere in the process of breathing of plants and animals. Carbon dioxide which is bonded by plants is included in organic matter which animals and micro-organisms make use of. Dead remains of plants and animals are decomposed by reducers and carbon returns to the atmosphere and water in the form of carbon dioxide. The content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases during forest fires and during burning fossil and industrial fuels. They are additional sources of carbon which enter the cycle and, since this inflow is not completely balanced by absorbing carbon dioxide by plants from the atmosphere, there is constant increase in its concentration in the atmosphere. |