The Carbon Cycle

       Carbon is an element present in all living organisms. Carbon is found in everything from rocks to the ocean to the sky. The carbon cycle is essential to living things because they need carbon to live, grow and reproduce. Carbon can be brought into the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions, machinery, animal and plant respiration, and the burning and decay of biomass (biomass is organic matter used as fuel).

      Carbon and oxygen are bound together to form carbon dioxide. Plants take in the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and they use carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow and make their food. There is carbon present in the plant and when that plant dies, they are then buried into the ground and then they turn into fossil fuels that consist of carbon such as coal and oil. The carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels that humans burn is then quickly released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The cycle keeps repeating.

      Humans affect the carbon cycle because we add a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and don't take a lot of it away. The extra amount of carbon is too much for the atmosphere and is causing global warming. Humans are burning too many fossil fuels that were hidden in the earth 300 million years ago. During this time, the vegetation that turned it into oil and coal was covered up with swamps. Humans are now cutting down too many trees so there is nothing to absorb the carbon dioxide. The oceanic phytoplankton in the ocean helps take out some of the carbon dioxide, but too much of it is still in the atmosphere.

     A reservoir that holds carbon for a long period of time is coal. The ground also stores carbon and then it becomes fossil fuels for our cars.

     Carbon dioxide stored in the atmosphere helps keep our planet at a livable temperature.  About 99% of carbon is stored deep in the Earth's surface. Carbon comes from the Latin word carbo which means coal. The second most abundant substance in living organisms is carbon, while water is the first.





Here is a video that explains the carbon cycle:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3SZKJVKRxQ

Information About Me

    My name is Breanna Gray and I am a senior this year. I love playing my saxophone, and being a part of the Sparta High School marching band.  I am also a member of the Sparta jazz band and concert band. I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 14 chickens, 2 rabbits and a goldfish at my house. Top Gear, Bones, Modern Family and The Walking Dead are a few of my favorite TV shows. After high school I want to go to Michigan State to be either a veterinarian or a forensic scientist. My favorite subjects at school are anything related to science or history. I am taking AP Biology because I like science and I heard that you should take as many science classes as you can in high school if you want to pursue a science career. I also hope to prove to myself that I can take an AP class and get a good grade in that class. What I hope to get out of this class is a better and more in-depth understanding of Biology. I also hope that I can pass the AP test and get a college credit for the class.