Cycling of Matter
Name: ____________________________________
Knowledge Probe: What do you already know?
1. What is the Conservation of Mass?
Mass is neither created nor destroyed. It only changes form (the
other atoms that an atom is bonded to).
2. What is Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration and how do they cycle matter?
Photosynthesis uses water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide to create
food (glucose) and oxygen AND Cellular Respiration uses glucose and
oxygen to create water and carbon dioxide. The inputs for one
process are the outputs for the other.
3. What is the water cycle?
The movement of water (H20) through its phases of matter and
through the earth and atmosphere.
Label the diagram below.
Condensation
Condensation
Precipitation
Transpiration
Evaporation
Run Off
Infiltration (seeps in – becomes groundwater)
Accumulation (Surface Water)
Video: What did you see?
Video 1: Intro Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2rk5yc4rE
1. Explain how photosynthesis and cellular respiration help cycle matter.
The inputs for cellular respiration are the
outputs of photosynthesis and vice versa.
2. What are two other processes in ecosystems
that cycle matter?
The water cycle
The nitrogen cycle
Video 2: Carbon Cycle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFE9o-c_pKg OR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3SZKJVKRxQ&list=PLHwRxTmCj30xx2VcV56lJLilIBylMGpty&index=2
1. Describe the carbon cycle
 What things have carbon in them?
 Plants
 Animals
 Soil/rocks
 Atmosphere
 water
 What roles do humans play in the cycling of carbon?
 We breathe out carbon dioxide
 We eat food (both plants and animals)
 Eventually, we die and decompose
 How does carbon get into the air?
 Living organisms breathe out CO2

How does carbon get into the soil?
 Living organisms die and decompose

How does carbon get into the water?
 Carbon dioxide diffuses in and out of water
2. How do human activities affect the carbon cycle?
 Burning of fossil fuels (driving/heating/electricity/etc)
 Mining/drilling for fossil fuels
 Cutting down trees (farming/slash and burn practices)
Another optional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzImo8kSXiU for human impact.
Carbon Cycle Game
1. Play the game.
2. Fill out the table to help explain the game.
Name of Group
Atmosphere
Water
Algae
Marine Snails
Sediments and
Rocks
Options for
Carbon Flows
1. Water
2. Trees
1. Snails
2. Algae
3. Atmospher
e
1. Water
2. Sediment
and rocks
3. Snails
1. Water
2. Sediment
and rock
1. Atmospher
e
2. Water
Explanation for Carbon Flows
1. CO2 diffuses into water
2. Trees take in CO2 through stomata for
photosynthesis
1. Snails use carbon in water to build their
shells
2. Algae use carbon in photosynthesis
3. CO2 diffuses from water into the
atmosphere
1. Algae do cellular respiration when they
are alive and give some carbon to water
when they die.
2. Algae die and sink to the bottom of the
ocean.
3. Snails eat algae.
1. Snails do cellular respiration when they
are alive.
2. There shells sink to the bottom and
become part of the sediment when they
die.
1. Carbon enters the atmosphere when
volcanoes erupt.
2. Weathering and erosion dissolve carbon
from rocks in water.
Trees
Caterpillars
1. Atmospher
e
2. Sediment
and rocks
3. Caterpillars
1. Atmospher
e
2. Sediment
and rocks
1. Trees give off CO2 from cellular
respiration.
2. Trees die and decompose.
3. Caterpillars eat leaves.
1. Caterpillars give of CO2 from cellular
respiration.
2. Caterpillars die and decompose.
3. Complete the diagram by drawing arrows to connect the different roles.
Video 3: The Nitrogen Cycle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaFVfHftzpI
1. Where do we find Nitrogen?
In the atmosphere. (N2)
In living organisms.
In the soil.
2. Why can’t we use the nitrogen as it is in the atmosphere?
We (most animals) don’t have the enzymes to break apart the
N2 molecule. But…some bacteria do.
3. Why do all living things need nitrogen?
To make proteins and other important molecules (like DNA)
4. How does Nitrogen become “fixed?”
Nitrogen is “fixed” or changed into a usable form by bacteria. (A
small amount of N2 in the atmosphere is fixed by lightening.
We can also fix nitrogen in factories.)
a. How do plants get nitrogen?
From the bacteria in the soil (who often live in nodules on the
roots).
b. How do animals get nitrogen?
We eat the plants (or animals that ate plants).
5. How does the nitrogen get into the soil?
Plants and animals die and decompose returning the nitrogen to
the nitrogen-fixing bacteria.