What is carbon cycle

Question

What do you mean by the carbon cycle? Describe it in detail.

Answer 1

The carbon cycle represents the circulation and recycling of chemical element carbon in nature due to the action of the living beings.

Photosynthetic beings absorb the carbon as carbon dioxide that is available in atmosphere and carbon atoms become part of the glucose molecules. At the time of cellular respiration of these beings, part of this organic material is consumed to produce ATP and in this process, carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere. Other part is included by the photosynthetic organisms into the molecules which compose their structure. The carbon atoms included into the producers are transferred to next tropic level and again part is released by the cellular respiration of consumers, part becomes constituent of consumer body and part is released as the uric acid or urea (excretes later recycled by decomposer bacteria). Thus, the carbon absorbed by the producers in the photosynthesis returns to atmosphere through the cellular respiration along the food chain till the decomposers which also release carbon dioxide in their energetic metabolism. Under the special conditions in the process, which takes millions of years carbon included into the organisms may also constitute fossil fuels stored in the deposits under the surface of planet as fossil fuels burn the carbon atoms return to atmosphere as the carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. Burning of the vegetable fuels, such as the wood, also returns carbon in the atmosphere.