The carbon cycle is the process that redistributes carbon on earth.
· Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make their food, this process is called photosynthesis.
· When the plants use carbon to create food it becomes part of the plant. Plants that die and are buried may turn into fossil fuels made of carbon like coal and oil over millions of years.
· When humans burn fossil fuels, most of the carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. If there is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere it creates a ‘blanket’. This blanket traps the suns heat inside the earth’s atmosphere, setting the process of global warming into action. Global warming is the process that increases the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere.
· Fossil fuels are used to power cars, ships trains and airplanes.
· Once the carbon is released into the atmosphere the cycle starts again as the plants begin to create their food and so on.