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• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to plants.
  In the atmosphere, carbon is attached to oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide (CO₂). Through the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is pulled from the air to produce food made from carbon for plant growth.
• Carbon moves from plants to animals.
  Through food chains, the carbon that is in plants moves to the animals that eat them. Animals that eat other animals get the carbon from their food too.
• Carbon moves from plants and animals to soils.
  When plants and animals die, their bodies, wood and leaves decays bringing the carbon into the ground. Some is buried and will become fossil fuels in millions and millions of years.
• Carbon moves from living things to the atmosphere.
  Each time you exhale, you are releasing carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) into the atmosphere. Animals and plants need to get rid of carbon dioxide gas through a process called respiration.
• Carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuels are burned.
  When humans burn fossil fuels to power factories, power plants, cars and trucks, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels. Of this massive amount, 3.3 billion tons stays in the atmosphere. Most of the remainder becomes dissolved in seawater.
• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to the oceans.
  The oceans, and other bodies of water, absorb some carbon from the atmosphere. The carbon is dissolved into the water.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat in the atmosphere. Without it and other greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen world. But humans have burned so much fuel that there is about 30% more carbon dioxide in the air today than there was about 150 years ago. The atmosphere has not held this much carbon for at least 420,000 years according to data from ice cores. The recent increase in amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide is having a significant impact on the warming of our planet.

Carbon moves through our planet over longer time scales as well. For example, over millions of years weathering of rocks on land can add carbon to surface water which eventually runs off to the ocean. Over long time scales, carbon is removed from seawater when the shells and bones of marine animals and plankton collect on the sea floor. These shells and bones are made of limestone, which contains carbon. When they are deposited on the sea floor, carbon is stored from the rest of the carbon cycle for some amount of time. The amount of limestone deposited in the ocean depends somewhat on the amount of warm, tropical, shallow oceans on the planet because this is where prolific limestone-producing organisms such as corals live. The carbon can be released back to the atmosphere if the limestone melts or is metamorphosed in a subduction zone.

Carbon is an element. It is part of oceans, air, rocks, soil and all living things. Carbon doesn’t stay in one place. It is always on the move!

• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to plants.
  In the atmosphere, carbon is attached to oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide (CO₂). With the help of the Sun, through the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is pulled from the air to make plant food from carbon.
• Carbon moves from plants to animals.
  Through food chains, the carbon that is in plants moves to the animals that eat them. Animals that eat other animals get the carbon from their food too.
• Carbon moves from plants and animals to the ground.
  When plants and animals die, their bodies, wood and leaves decay bringing the carbon into the ground. Some becomes buried miles underground and will become fossil fuels in millions and millions of years.
• Carbon moves from living things to the atmosphere.
  Each time you exhale, you are releasing carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) into the atmosphere. Animals and plants get rid of carbon dioxide gas through a process called respiration.
• Carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuels are burned.
  When humans burn fossil fuels to power factories, power plants, cars and trucks, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels. That’s the weight of 100 million adult African elephants! Of the huge amount of carbon that is released from fuels, 3.3 billion tons enters the atmosphere and most of the rest becomes dissolved in seawater.
• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to the oceans.
  The oceans, and other bodies of water, soak up some carbon from the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat in the atmosphere. Without it and other greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen world. But humans have burned so much fuel that there is about 30% more carbon dioxide in the air today than there was about 150 years ago. The atmosphere has not held this much carbon for at least 420,000 years according to data from ice cores. More greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in our atmosphere are causing our planet to become warmer.

Carbon moves through our planet over longer time scales as well. For example, over millions of years weathering of rocks on land can add carbon to surface water which eventually runs off to the ocean. Over long time scales, carbon is removed from seawater when the shells and bones of marine animals and plankton collect on the sea floor. These shells and bones are made of limestone, which contains carbon. When they are deposited on the sea floor, carbon is stored from the rest of the carbon cycle for some amount of time. The amount of limestone deposited in the ocean depends somewhat on the amount of warm, tropical, shallow oceans on the planet because this is where prolific limestone-producing organisms such as corals live. The carbon can be released back to the atmosphere if the limestone melts or is metamorphosed in a subduction zone.

Carbon is part of the ocean, air, rocks, soil and all living things. Carbon doesn’t stay in one place. It is always on the move!

• Carbon moves from the air to plants.
  In the air, carbon is attached to oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide. With help from the Sun, plants are able to pull this gas out of the air to make their food. The food is made of carbon and helps the plants to grow.
• Carbon moves from plants to animals.
  The carbon that is in plants moves to the animals that eat them. Animals that eat other animals get the carbon from their food too.
• Carbon moves from plants and animals to the ground.
  When plants and animals die, their bodies, wood and leaves decay bringing the carbon into the ground. Some becomes buried miles underground and will become fossil fuels in millions and millions of years.
• Carbon moves from living things to the atmosphere.
  Each time you exhale, you are releasing carbon dioxide gas into the air. Animals get rid of carbon dioxide gas by exhaling. Even plants have a special way to exhale to get rid of carbon dioxide gas!
• Carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuels are burned.
  Fuels like coal, oil and gas are burned to power factories, cars and trucks. When burned, the fuels release carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. Each year, burning fossil fuels released an amount of carbon that weighs about as much as 100 million elephants!
• Carbon moves from the atmosphere to the oceans.
  The oceans, and other bodies of water, soak up some of the carbon that is in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. It traps heat in the atmosphere. Without it and other greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen world. But humans have burned so much fuel that there is much more carbon dioxide in the air today. More greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are causing our planet to become warmer.