What is the carbon cycle? Carbon is the chemical backbone of all life on Earth.
All of the carbon we currently have on Earth is the same amount we have always had.
When new life is formed, carbon forms key molecules like protein and DNA.
It's also found in our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, or C02.
The carbon cycle is nature's way of reusing carbon atoms, which travel from the atmosphere
into organisms and the Earth, and then back into the atmosphere, over and over again.
Most carbon is stored in rocks and sediments, while the rest is stored in
the ocean, atmosphere, and living organisms. These are the reservoirs, or
sinks, through which carbon cycles. The ocean is a giant carbon sink that
absorbs carbon. Marine organisms from marsh plants to fish, from seaweed to
birds, also produce carbon through living and dying.
Sometimes dead organisms become fossil fuels that go through combustion,
giving off C02 and the cycle continues...