Observe: Carbon Cycle

Wouldn't it be great if our bodies could make food automatically just by being in the sun? Unfortunately, we cannot do that, but trees can! Trees are known as producers because they can produce their own food. Only producers have the special green pigment chlorophyll that allows them to capture energy from the sun and use it in the food-making process known as photosynthesis.

Without carbon there would be no life on Earth. The carbon cycle is the process of how carbon travels from living to non-living objects. When it is in the atmosphere, carbon combines with oxygen to make carbon dioxide. Humans breathe out carbon dioxide.

Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air. During photosynthesis, carbon becomes part of the plant, and the plant releases oxygen. Humans and animals breathe in oxygen. Plants that are eaten help provide carbon, one of the building blocks of life.

Plants and animals that die and are buried may turn into fossil fuels made of carbon like coal and oil. When humans burn fossil fuels, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

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Leaves have more than just chlorophyll as a pigment. However, normally, we cannot see the various pigment colours because the green masks them. The only time we can see the pigments in leaves is when the chlorophyll disappears, and this only on certain trees in autumn. The beautiful red, orange, yellow leaves of fall work all summer, too, to catch some rays!

These same pigments help to provide colour in animals from frogs to birds.

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