Student Exploration Carbon Cycle GIZMO

Directions: Type your responses in red. 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 (H2 O) 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 carbon from the atmosphere to photosynthesis 2. Animals eat plants and produce carbon dioxide and water. How do animals affect the amount of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere? 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. 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 earth's atmosphere goes to the oceanic next 2.3.Click on Land plants and read the description. How did the carbon atom get from the atmosphere to a plant? dissolves into rainwater, forming a weak, carbonic acid(H2CO2), reacts with minerals in the rocks to dissolve Select Land animals. How did the carbon atom get from land plants into the animal?