What is
Carbon?
What is the
Carbon Cycle?
All living things on Earth contain
carbon. But, what is carbon?
Why is it important?
Carbon is found all over the Earth.
It is an element. It is in the air, in the
ocean, in the Earth’s crust.
If carbon is mixed with other elements you get;
limestone, chalk, marble, coal, gas, alcohol,
sugars, fats, and even medicines. The black
stuff in your pencil, graphite, is carbon.
Diamonds are 100% pure carbon. Your body even
contains carbon, the same stuff from which
diamonds are made!
Carbon is inside of us, outside of us, and right
now you are breathing out carbon (in the form of
a gas: carbon dioxide).
Carbon is everywhere.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas
found in our atmosphere (the
air surrounding the Earth).
It is colorless and odorless.
CO2 helps insulate the Earth and
keep our
atmosphere at
just the right
temperature
for life to exist.
We are lucky to live on Earth. Venus is
almost the same size as the Earth. It is
made up of about the same things. However,
the atmosphere around Venus is mostly
carbon dioxide. All of this extra CO2 acts
like a big huge winter coat around the
planet. The CO2 traps in and holds the
sun’s heat. The temperature on Venus’s
surface is
thousands of degrees!
Much too hot and way too
much CO2 for any living
thing to survive!
People and animals
all contain carbon.
We get our carbon
from eating plants
or other animals. We
breathe in oxygen
which mixes with the
carbon and then we
breathe out carbon
dioxide. (CO2)
Like people and
animals, fish and
other sea creatures
breathe in oxygen.
Their oxygen is
found in the oceans
water. Just like
animals and people,
they also breathe
out CO2 (carbon
dioxide).
Plants get carbon by taking carbon
dioxide out of the air or water. All
green plants breathe, except they
breathe in carbon dioxide
and release oxygen.
Using the suns energy, the
leaves of green plants take
in the carbon dioxide from
the air. The roots take in
water. This makes food for
the plant. The plant puts
out oxygen. This is called
photosynthesis.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/earth3.htm
Plants that live in water
also use photosynthesis to
make their own food. They
take in carbon from the
water and release oxygen.
Plants and animals
eventually die and decay on
the earth or in water.
Carbon now enters the earth
or the water.
Over millions of years the decaying
plants and animals became oil, coal,
and natural gas. We call these fossil
fuels. We drill, dig, and
pump these fuels
out of the earth
to use them
for powering
things that
need energy.
By burning fossil fuels to
energize our lives we add
carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere.
The carbon dioxide enters
the atmosphere. The cycle
starts over.
Resources:
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0043-gases-effectweather.php
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0159-the-carbon-cycle.php
http://www.scienceclarified.com/Ca-Ch/Carbon-Cycle.html
http://www.uky.edu/KGS/education/carbon_cycle.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/carbon#ixzz1Ux832xuw