APES Video Notes 1.4 - Carbon Cycle
Summary
TLDRIn this educational video, Mr. Smeeds explores the carbon cycle, focusing on the movement of carbon through Earth's systems. He discusses carbon sinks, sources, and reservoirs, emphasizing the processes that shift carbon compounds. The video highlights how human activities, particularly fossil fuel combustion, disrupt the balance by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere faster than natural processes can absorb it, contributing to climate change. Key concepts include the quick combustion of fuels versus the slow sedimentation and burial that forms fossil fuels, and the role of photosynthesis and respiration in the carbon cycle.
Takeaways
- 🌏 The carbon cycle involves the movement of carbon-containing molecules like carbon dioxide, glucose, and methane between Earth's systems.
- 🔄 Carbon sinks are reservoirs that store more carbon than they release, helping to mitigate climate change, while carbon sources release more carbon than they store, contributing to atmospheric CO2 levels.
- 🌿 Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are short-term processes that quickly balance each other out, with plants removing CO2 from the atmosphere and animals releasing it back.
- 🔥 The combustion of fossil fuels is a quick process that releases large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, leading to an imbalance in carbon reservoirs.
- 🌊 The ocean is a significant carbon reservoir, with processes like direct exchange, photosynthesis by marine organisms, and sedimentation playing key roles in carbon storage.
- 🌱 Plants and algae act as carbon sinks by taking in CO2 through photosynthesis and storing it in the form of glucose or other organic compounds.
- 🐄 Animal agriculture is a carbon source due to the methane emissions from livestock, contributing to climate change.
- 🌳 Deforestation releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere and reduces the capacity of forests to act as carbon sinks.
- 🚜 The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels are anthropogenic activities that have dramatically altered the carbon cycle over the past 250 years, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels.
- ⏳ The geological processes of sedimentation and burial, which form fossil fuels, are slow and long-term, contrasting with the rapid extraction and combustion by humans.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video on the carbon cycle?
-The video focuses on how carbon cycles through Earth's systems, specifically looking at the sinks, sources, and reservoirs of carbon, and the processes that move carbon compounds between them.
What are the objectives for the day in the video?
-The objectives are to explain the steps and reservoir interactions in the carbon cycle, including the movement of carbon molecules between sources and sinks, the distinction between long-term and short-term reservoirs, and the cycling of carbon between photosynthesis and respiration.
How does the combustion of fossil fuels affect the carbon cycle?
-The combustion of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than it is removed through sedimentation and burial, leading to an imbalance in carbon reservoirs and an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
What is a carbon sink?
-A carbon sink is a reservoir that stores more carbon than it releases, effectively taking carbon out of the atmosphere and helping to mitigate or reduce the effects of climate change.
What are some examples of carbon sinks mentioned in the video?
-Examples of carbon sinks include algae in the ocean, sediments at the bottom of the ocean, plants on land, and soil, which store carbon through processes like photosynthesis and decomposition.
What is a carbon source?
-A carbon source is a process that releases more carbon than it stores, thereby increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
What are some examples of carbon sources discussed in the video?
-Examples of carbon sources include fossil fuel combustion, animal agriculture, and deforestation, all of which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
How does photosynthesis contribute to the carbon cycle?
-Photosynthesis is a process carried out by plants, algae, and phytoplankton where they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into glucose, acting as a carbon sink.
What is cellular respiration and how does it relate to the carbon cycle?
-Cellular respiration is a process where organisms use oxygen to break down glucose, releasing energy and carbon dioxide. It is considered a carbon source because it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
How does the direct exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere affect the carbon cycle?
-Direct exchange allows carbon dioxide to move quickly between the ocean and the atmosphere, potentially leading to an increase in oceanic carbon dioxide levels and contributing to ocean acidification.
What is the significance of the burial process in the carbon cycle?
-Burial is a slow geological process that involves the compression of organic matter into sedimentary rock or fossil fuels, acting as a long-term carbon reservoir.
How does the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels impact the carbon cycle?
-The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than it is naturally sequestered, leading to an imbalance and an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Outlines
🌿 Understanding the Carbon Cycle
This segment introduces the carbon cycle, focusing on how carbon moves through Earth's systems, including its sinks, sources, and reservoirs. The discussion highlights the processes that facilitate the movement of carbon compounds, such as carbon dioxide, glucose, and methane. The objective is to explain the interactions and steps within the carbon cycle, emphasizing the differences between short-term and long-term reservoirs. The video also addresses the rapid release of carbon dioxide due to human activities, such as fossil fuel combustion, which leads to an imbalance in carbon reservoirs and contributes to global warming. Carbon sinks, like algae and plants, are highlighted as they help mitigate climate change by storing carbon, while carbon sources, including fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, are identified as processes that increase atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
🌱 Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, and Ocean-Atmosphere Exchange
This part of the script delves into the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration, which are crucial for the carbon cycle. Photosynthesis, carried out by plants, algae, and phytoplankton, is described as a carbon sink because it removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it into glucose. Cellular respiration, a process performed by all living organisms, is explained as a carbon source because it releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. The balance between these two processes is emphasized, as they result in no net increase in atmospheric carbon. Additionally, the script discusses the direct exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere, which is a relatively quick process that maintains a balance. The potential for ocean acidification due to increased carbon dioxide levels is also mentioned, along with the role of marine organisms in taking up carbon dioxide and the long-term carbon reservoirs formed through sedimentation and burial.
⛏️ The Impact of Fossil Fuel Extraction and Combustion
The final segment addresses the geological processes of burial and extraction, which are key to understanding the long-term storage of carbon in the form of sedimentary rock and fossil fuels. The script explains how organic matter, such as dead plants and marine organisms, gets compressed over millions of years to form fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. Extraction, through mining, and the subsequent combustion of these fossil fuels for energy release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a rate much faster than natural processes can remove it. This rapid addition of carbon dioxide due to human activities is identified as a significant disruptor of the carbon cycle, contributing to climate change. The script concludes by emphasizing the need to understand these processes to appreciate how human actions have altered the carbon cycle over the past 250 years.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Carbon Cycle
💡Sinks
💡Sources
💡Photosynthesis
💡Respiration
💡Fossil Fuels
💡Sedimentation
💡Burial
💡Combustion
💡Climate Change
Highlights
Introduction to the carbon cycle and its importance in Earth's systems.
Exploration of carbon sinks, sources, and reservoirs, and their roles in the carbon cycle.
Discussion on how carbon moves between sources and sinks, with a focus on short-term and long-term reservoirs.
Explanation of the carbon cycle's short loop between photosynthesis and respiration.
Insight into the long-term storage of carbon through the burial of biomass and decomposition.
Analysis of the rapid release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion.
Identification of the imbalance caused by the accelerated extraction and combustion of fossil fuels.
Connection between increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature rise.
Definition and examples of carbon sinks that mitigate climate change effects.
Clarification of carbon sources and their contribution to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Importance of photosynthesis in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its role as a carbon sink.
Understanding cellular respiration as a carbon source and its role in the carbon cycle.
Balance between photosynthesis and cellular respiration in maintaining atmospheric carbon levels.
Direct exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere and its implications.
Role of marine organisms in carbon sequestration and their impact on ocean acidification.
Process of sedimentation and burial as long-term carbon reservoirs in the ocean.
Formation of fossil fuels through burial and sedimentation and their role in the carbon cycle.
Extraction and combustion of fossil fuels as a rapid process that disrupts the carbon cycle.
Practice question on identifying processes in the carbon cycle that have changed dramatically over the past 250 years.
Transcripts
hey everybody it's mr smeeds welcome to
ape spider notes for topic 1.4
which is the carbon cycle today we'll be
focused on how
carbon cycles through earth's systems so
specifically we'll be looking at the
sinks sources and reservoirs of carbon
and the processes that move carbon
compounds between those
our objective for the day is to be able
to explain the steps
and the reservoir interactions in the
carbon cycle so
specifically we'll be looking at the
movement of carbon molecules between
sources and sinks we'll be looking at
how some reservoirs are long-term
while others are short-term we'll also
talk about how carbon cycles back and
forth in a relatively short loop between
photosynthesis
and respiration in living things then
finally we'll talk about how the burial
of carbon from biomass
and decomposition results in a long-term
storage of carbon
whereas the digging up of these fossil
fuels and their combustion
results in a very short-term release of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
our essential science skill that we'll
be practicing today is explaining
relationships between different
characteristics
of environmental concepts and we'll do
that primarily in a
visual model setting today so
first we'll take a brief overlook at the
carbon cycle so remember that it's the
movement of carbon-containing molecules
so
primarily carbon dioxide glucose methane
which is ch4
between carbon sources and sinks
really important key detail is that some
steps are very quick
such as the combustion of fossil fuels
on the other hand some steps are very
slow such as the sedimentation
of decomposing organic matter and then
its burial underground and its
compression into fossil fuels
so it takes a really long time
and we can see that in this diagram here
imagine the
shells of organic organisms or dead
algae floating to the bottom of this
ocean
so that's called sedimentation and then
as they're compressed and buried into
sedimentary rock
or into fossil fuels that's a really
really long process
now on the other hand if we look at step
four the extraction it's really really
quick to dig up carbon and combust it
and that returns carbon to the
atmosphere in the form of co2
so that's going to lead to an imbalance
in the reservoirs that are storing
carbon
because digging up fossil fuels and
combusting them
releases carbon in the atmosphere far
far far faster
than it's removed through sedimentation
and burial it leads to an imbalance
and an increase in carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere
now this is a problem because the
atmosphere is a key reservoir of carbon
but as the level of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere increases
so does the global temperature so if
you've heard of global
warming or climate change this is
occurring because humans are increasing
the concentration of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere primarily by digging up
these fossil fuels and burning them
so if we talk about carbon sinks these
are carbon reservoirs that are storing
more carbon than they release
so we can think of them as taking carbon
out of the atmosphere
so they can mitigate or reduce the
effects of climate change
in the ocean these are things like algae
which take in carbon dioxide through
photosynthesis
and sediments which store little bits of
carbon and organic matter at the bottom
of the ocean
and then on land we have plants which
also do photosynthesis and store carbon
in their tissues either in glucose or in
other structural compounds
and we also have the soil which can
store carbon as organisms die
and decompose and their carbon is added
to the soil
carbon sources on the other hand are
processes that release more carbon than
they store
so this is going to increase the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere
some of those are fossil fuel combustion
so this is oil
coal and natural gas we also have animal
agriculture
animal agriculture releases a lot of
methane because the cows primarily
as well as other organisms that are
grown for human food are going to
release a lot of methane through both
their burps and their farts
and methane is a greenhouse gas so
that's also going to contribute to
climate change
then finally we have deforestation so
when we cut down trees
for logging or just to clear land for
agriculture
the carbon dioxide that they stored is
released into the atmosphere
and they don't go on storing more carbon
dioxide and so all of those are what we
call carbon sources
which adds carbon to the atmosphere now
we'll talk about
photosynthesis and cellular respiration
so photosynthesis
of course is carried out by plants algae
and phytoplankton
it's a process where they remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere
and convert it to glucose now that
glucose
is an organic molecule meaning it is
created by a living thing
and it's a biological form of carbon and
it's a
storage molecule which stores energy
that can be used later in the form of a
sugar
now this is a co2 or a carbon sink
because it's going to remove carbon from
the atmosphere
in increasing amounts so as trees get
taller they're incorporating more and
more carbon
into their bark into their roots into
their other structures so again you can
think of those trees as just continually
pulling
co2 out of the atmosphere a carbon sink
next we'll talk about cellular
respiration so this is something that
all living things do one common
misconception is that it's only animals
another misconception is that it's just
breathing breathing is just the act of
pulling in
air into your lungs and that's not the
same thing as respiration
cellular respiration is a process where
organisms actually use up oxygen that
they breathe into their lungs
or take into their body in some other
way and they break down glucose to
release energy
now that energy could fuel their
movement it could fuel their growth
but that's the key of cellular
respiration you're breaking glucose
which remember has that carbon from the
atmosphere to release energy
because this process releases carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere
we call it a carbon source but
it's very important to understand that
both of these processes happen very
quickly
and both of these processes balance each
other out so if you look at the equation
in the top equation we have
photosynthesis releasing oxygen
and producing glucose and then if we
look down at the bottom for respiration
organisms are going to take in oxygen
and glucose
they're going to give off co2 which
plants then take
back in to create glucose with
so these processes balance each other
out and we call this
no net increase in atmospheric carbon
because the carbon that's being produced
by animals through respiration is taken
up
by plants to produce glucose so think of
these as a
short-term cycle where the carbon is
just kind of looping back and forth
between plants and animals
we're not really increasing the net
amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere
because these processes are relatively
balanced next we'll talk about how
carbon cycles back and forth between the
ocean
and the atmosphere so direct exchange is
this action where carbon dioxide
actually just moves
back and forth directly between the
ocean
and the atmosphere so it can dissolve as
a gas right into the ocean
and they can dissolve right back into
the atmosphere it's very quick
and it occurs in roughly equal
directions so kind of like
photosynthesis
and cellular respiration this process
results in
basically balanced amounts of carbon
dioxide in the ocean in the atmosphere
now this is a problem as it relates to
global climate change because
as we increase the carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere we're also going to increase
the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean
and carbon in the ocean leads to ocean
acidification
so the ocean becomes more acidic and
that can have consequences for the
organisms that live there
if you look at this diagram look at
arrow 5 that's going to show this direct
exchange where carbon dioxide can move
from the atmosphere
directly into the ocean and then
directly out of the ocean right back
into the atmosphere so again we call
that direct exchange
now that carbon dioxide in the ocean can
be taken up by algae and phytoplankton
so they'll take the co2 and they will
convert it into sugars via
photosynthesis so that's one way
that the carbon dioxide can be taken out
of the ocean
we also have coral reef and other marine
organisms that create
shells they're going to take co2 out of
the ocean as well
in order to make their shells which are
made of calcium carbonate
so notice the carbon in calcium
carbonate they're going to have to take
that carbon out of the ocean
so they also represent a carbon sink in
the ocean so they can remove some of the
co2
added to the ocean by the atmosphere
sedimentation
is the process where when marine
organisms die so
coral or fish or shellfish the remains
are going to sink to the bottom of the
ocean floor
and over time all of the pressure of
that water above
will smash these organisms down to tiny
little pieces that we call sediments
then burial is a process where these
sediments over
long long periods of time so thousands
if not millions of years
get compressed by all of the pressure of
that water in the ocean above them
to form sedimentary rock so these are
things like limestone
and sandstone because they take so long
to form
we call them long-term carbon reservoirs
right so we'll wrap up our coverage of
the carbon cycle today by talking about
burial
extraction and combustion so remember
that burial is a very slow geological
process
meaning it involves rocks that's going
to store carbon in underground sinks
like sandstone or even fossil fuels
so the process is that sediments so
little bits of rock or dead organic
matter
will be compressed into sedimentary rock
or fossil fuel
by the pressure of overlying water or
rock layers
so think about little bits of organic
matter just getting kind of pressed
together
over and over for just millions of years
and eventually they actually form a new
substance which is either a sedimentary
rock
or in this case a fossil fuel
fossil fuels coal oil and natural gas
are also formed
through this process of burial and
sedimentation
so the fossilized remains of organic
matter
especially dead ferns or if we're
talking about oil in the ocean marine
organisms
like algae and phytoplankton get
compressed by those overlying
water or rock layers until they actually
compress
together to form these fossil fuels
so if we take a look at the diagram here
we can see again organic matter in the
ocean such as
fish or plants get broken down over time
to foreign organic sediments
and then as those are compressed by the
amount of water that's over top of them
or rock layers
they form fossil fuels such as oil and
natural gas
extraction is the digging up through
mining
of those fossil fuels and then burning
them for energy which releases
co2 into the atmosphere so that
combustion
so when you put gasoline in your car
your car lights it on fire and it makes
your car go
great form of energy but it releases a
lot of co2 into the atmosphere
and so the problem here the big takeaway
from the carbon cycle
is that burial takes a long time the
formation of fossil fuels takes millions
of years so it's a very long term carbon
reservoir
but then the extraction and combustion
of fossil fuels happens very very
quickly
which results in co2 being added to the
atmosphere
far faster than it can be taken out our
practice frq for topic 1.4 today will
cover the skill
of explaining relationships between
characteristics of environmental
concepts
specifically using a visual
representation so there's a heavy
emphasis on using visual models in
apes and you need to identify a process
in this diagram that happens very
quickly
and one that happens very slowly then
you need to explain how the rate at
which
fossil fuels are transferred into the
atmosphere as shown in this diagram
has altered the carbon cycle during the
past 250 years
so think about a process in this diagram
that has changed dramatically over the
past 250 years
and explain how the rate of that process
is altering the carbon cycle
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