Carbon Cycle

Carbon Cycle

What is the carbon cycle?

The carbon cycle shows how carbon moves between the air, animals, plants, oceans, and rocks. It can move quickly (like in plants) or stay in one place for a long time (like in rocks) - this is called a carbon sink.

Multiple Choice

How does carbon get from the atmosphere into living things?

• Respiration

• Predation

• Burning fossil fuels

• Photosynthesis

Multiple Select

Select all of the options that correctly complete the following sentence.

The high concentrations of carbon dioxide during the northern hemisphere winter are due to:

• High levels of photosynthesis

• Low levels of photosynthesis

• Plant decay

• Plant growth

• Photosynthesis takes CO₂ from the air and stores it in plants as glucose

• Animals get carbon by eating plants and release it by respiration

• Decomposers release carbon when they break down dead organisms

• Burning fossil fuels puts carbon back into the air as carbon dioxide

• Oceans absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

The Carbon Cycle Summarised

Multiple Choice

Which is a long-term carbon store?

• Tree Leaves

• Animals

• Lump of Coal

• Puff of Breath

Dropdown

Animals return carbon to the air by​

Select answer

.

Match

Match each part with its role in the carbon cycle:

• Oceans

• Plants

• Animals

• Fossil Fuels

Absorbs CO₂

Uses CO₂

Releases CO₂

Stores Carbon

• Absorbs CO₂

• Uses CO₂

• Releases CO₂

• Stores Carbon

Categorize

Options (4)

Respiration

Photosynthesis

Decomposition

Fossilisation

Put each into the correct category:

Living Process

After Death

Drag and Drop

Burning ​

Placeholder

releases ​

Placeholder

into the atmosphere.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

fossil fuels

carbon dioxide

oxygen

water

metals

nitrogen

Multiple Choice

Identify which contains more carbon – the oceans or the atmosphere.

Note: Most of the carbon in sea water and air is in carbon dioxide.

• Oceans

• Atmosphere

• Neither - they contain roughly equal amounts of carbon

Multiple Choice

Determine which absorbs more carbon per year – photosynthesis on land or in the ocean.

• Land

• Oceans

• Neither - they absorb roughly equal quantities of carbon

Multiple Choice

Identify the largest carbon reservoir on Earth.

• Atmosphere

• Oceans

• Carbonate rocks

• Fossil fuels

Multiple Choice

Carbon dioxide is transferred between the atmosphere and oceans by gas exchange.

Determine the option that best completes this sentence.

In the natural carbon cycle, the overall flow of carbon by this process is:

• Strongly from the atmosphere to the oceans

• Roughly balanced

• Strongly from the oceans to the atmosphere