Carbon Cycle Gizmo - Complete Solutions (Graded, A)

Student Exploration: Carbon Cycle Vocabulary: atmosphere, biomass, biosphere, carbon reservoir, carbon sink, fossil fuel, geosphere, greenhouse gas, hydrosphere, lithosphere, photosynthesis Prior Knowledge Questions ( ...

Student Exploration: Carbon Cycle Vocabulary: atmosphere, biomass, biosphere, carbon reservoir, carbon sink, fossil fuel, geosphere, greenhouse gas, hydrosphere, lithosphere, photosynthesis Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) In the process of photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and water (H2O) from the soil. Using the energy of sunlight, plants build molecules of glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2). 1. How do plants on Earth affect the amount of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere? Plants take in carbon and then give out oxygen 2. Animals eat plants and produce carbon dioxide and water. How do animals affect the amount of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere? They release carbon into the atmosphere Gizmo Warm-up The Carbon Cycle Gizmo allows you to follow the many paths an atom of carbon can take through Earth’s systems. To begin, notice the black carbon atom in the Atmospheric CO2 area, highlighted in yellow. The glowing blue areas represent possible locations the carbon atom could go next. 1. From Earth’s atmosphere, where can the carbon atom go next? the ocean 2. Click on Land plants and read the description. How did the carbon atom get from the atmosphere to a plant? From exposed rocks and the atmosphere 3. Select Land animals. How did the carbon atom get from land plants into the animal? The carbon atom would get from the plant to the animal because the animal eat plants for energy.2018 4. Select Atmospheric CO2. How did the carbon atom get from land animals back to the atmosphere? The animal release the carbon back into the air by the process of cellular respiration. Introduction: Earth can be divided into four systems. The atmosphere is the air above Earth’s surface. The hydrosphere is composed of all of Earth’s water. The geosphere is the rocky, non-living part of Earth. The biosphere consists of all living things, including people. Some scientists use the term “anthroposphere” to describe everything made or modified by humans. Question: How does carbon move between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere? 1. Explore: Use the Gizmo to create a path for carbon that begins and ends in the atmosphere. Fill in the steps in the path below. Then, label each location with the system it represents. Finally, summarize very briefly how the carbon atom got to that location. Carbon path System How it got there Atmospheric CO2 Atmosphere Atmospheric CO2 comes from volcanoes, burning fossil fuels, and other sources. Land plants biosphere Plants go through photosynthesis Land animals biosphere Animals eat plants to gain energy soil geosphere Animals die and remains decay into the soil sediments geosphere Soil washed into the streams and build up under water masses lithosphere geosphere Sediments get compressed into sedimentary rocks that are rich in carbon volcano geosphere Rocks melt underground and releases Co2 which is mixed into magma Atmospheric co2 atmosphere Volcano erupts putting Co2 back into the atmosphere Get the Gizmo ready: • Click Reset. Activity A: Carbon pathways2018 2. Create: Click Reset. Use the Gizmo to create a path in which the carbon atom goes from the atmosphere to the hydrosphere, biosphere and geosphere. Describe each transition briefly. Atmosphere Hydrosphere Biosphere Geosphere Atmospheric CO2 Oceanic CO2 marine plants/ algae Sediments Volcanoes, burning Cold temperatures Plants go through Plants and algae fossil fuels, and from the ocean photosythesis sink to the bottom of other sources. dissolves CO2 and the ocean building stores it into deep up large amounts of waters carbon (Activity A continued on nex