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• Carbon


  An element with the symbol C
• Carbon


  • It is a non-metal
  • It occurs naturally in different forms
• Forms of carbon


  • Diamonds
  • Graphite (in pencils)
• Living organisms do not need diamonds or pencil leads, but they do need carbon
• Organisms can only use carbon when it is part of a compound
• Compounds that contain carbon

  • Carbohydrates
  • Proteins
  • Fats
• The carbon cycle


  1. Plants take carbon dioxide from the air and use it in photosynthesis to make carbohydrates

  2. The carbohydrates in plants contain carbon atoms that were originally part of the air

  3. Plants use the carbohydrates to make proteins and fats

  4. Animals get carbon-containing nutrients by eating plants or other animals

  5. Decomposers get their carbon when they break down waste products from plants and animals
• There is one more very important set of processes to add to the diagram showing how carbon moves from the air, through organisms and back to the air again
• When organisms die


  1. Their bodies fall into places where there is no oxygen, such as deep in the ocean

  2. Decomposers cannot respire, because there is not enough oxygen for them

  3. Their remains get gradually buried, as more and more sediment builds up on top of them

  4. High pressure and heat change their remains into fossil fuels, including coal, oil or natural gas
• Changing dead organisms to fossil fuels takes a very long time
• Most of the fossil fuels that we use on Earth today were formed hundreds of millions of years ago
• Oil and natural gas formed when

  • Tiny marine organisms died and fell to the sea bed
• Coal was formed from

  • Dead plants
• Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide when burned
• Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane help keep the Earth warm
• Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are increasing, affecting the climate on Earth
• Ice ages


  • The Earth has cycled between relatively warm periods and relatively cold ones
  • In the warm periods, there was no ice at all, even at the poles
  • In the colder periods, called ice ages, there was ice at the poles
• Snowball Earth


  • The whole Earth was covered with ice and snow
  • Scientists are not sure whether everything was completely frozen
• Asteroids collided with each other, producing huge quantities of dust that reduced the amount of light and heat from the Sun reaching the Earth's surface, triggering an ice age


  Around 470 million years ago
• An asteroid collided with Earth, causing huge devastation and throwing huge quantities of rock and dust into the air


  Around 67 million years ago
• The asteroid collision affected the whole planet, not just the surrounding area
• The dust from the asteroid collision would have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface
• Plants can use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, but the dust would have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching them
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