Mon Prof Augmenté
Carbon on the Move
Carbon is an element that keeps travelling between the air, plants, soil and the ocean. Plants pull it out of the air, soil and seawater store it, and living things send it back again.
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Age 15: open this week
Browse Age 15
In the picture
- The cloud in the sky: the air carries carbon as carbon dioxide gas.
- The oak leaf: photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide from the air and builds it into sugars and wood.
- The cut soil face with roots and fallen leaves: dead plants rot and lock carbon into the soil, while microbes breathe some of it back out.
- The ocean wave: seawater dissolves carbon dioxide, and plankton use it before sinking and carrying it into the deep.
Examples
- Breathing out on a cold morning releases carbon dioxide that a nearby tree can use the same day.
- A garden compost bin, where worms and microbes break down peelings, warms up and returns carbon to the soil and the air.
Key takeaways
- Carbon is never used up; it keeps moving between air, plants, soil and ocean.
- The soil and the ocean each hold far more carbon than the atmosphere does.
Carry on in the app
Three questions on this lesson. It has left the free week, so its quiz is for subscribers.
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