It is impossible to deny that man significantly (and not in the best way) affects the environment, in particular the carbon cycle in nature. It is in our power to maintain the ecological situation on the planet even in a form suitable for housing for the longest possible time. But why, in fact, is carbon so important? What happens to him at all, how does he affect us, and can we influence the cycle in the nature of this important element?
Almost any life form on our planet contains carbon. Hence, it is necessary for the normal existence of all species. Why are we scared that the carbon content is increasing rapidly? The burning of oil and gas during the operation of machines, the work of enterprises emits a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, disrupting the carbon cycle in nature. The Earth’s biosystem ceases to cope with such a quantity.
Where is carbon present?
In a seemingly negligible concentration (0.04%), carbon is present in the Earth’s atmosphere as CO2 dioxide. But this is enough to support the vital activity of terrestrial vegetation.
Carbon is also found in soil and sedimentary rocks - in the terrestrial biosphere.
As already mentioned, this element is present in large quantities in the ocean in the form of living and inanimate marine organics and already dissolved.
Another carbon storage facility is fossil resources, usually of organic origin.
Where does it come from?
The carbon cycle in nature, like any other substance, implies that it is taken from somewhere, then it disappears somewhere and comes back. Let's see how this happens with carbon.
• Animals and people exhale carbon into the atmosphere.
• Dead organisms of plants and animals are treated with bacteria that, with the participation of oxygen, emit carbon dioxide or methane, which also contains carbon.
• Carbon dioxide is also produced during the burning of oil, coal, peat and natural gas.
• Forest fires are the same source of this gas entering the atmosphere.
• Another serious source is the activity of active volcanoes that emit a lot of carbon dioxide, steam and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.
• Cement production as a result of human activity; Using heating of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), we release a large amount of carbon into the atmosphere.
• Talk a lot about global warming. When heated, the surface of the ocean additionally releases carbon dioxide from the water.
Where is it going?
If all carbon entering the air remained there, we would have suffocated long ago, and life on Earth would cease to exist. But the carbon cycle in nature suggests that it disappears from the atmosphere. Where to?
• Many thanks for clearing the air of carbon dioxide should be said to the trees, which are the main repositories of this element. Moreover, carbon can be stored in them for hundreds of years. Especially useful in this sense are young trees that grow quickly and, therefore, quickly consume carbon.
• The lower the temperature, the more soluble carbon dioxide becomes, and the cold surface of the water closer to the north pole absorbs it perfectly. But global warming threatens that the ocean will begin to evaporate carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. This is another problem that worries scientists and all of humanity.
• Another major carbon utilization factory is marine organisms living in the upper ocean. They absorb carbon to build their cells. Estimates of scientists say about 36 thousand gigatons of carbon in the oceans.
• When dying, marine inhabitants (their hard parts) settle on the seabed, eventually developing into sedimentary rocks.
A large cycle of substances in nature is a well-established system, interference with which can lead to unpredictable consequences.