How Humans Impact the Carbon, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen Cycles
“How humans impact the Carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen cycles”
Christine Richardson
Environmental Science
May 1, 2013
The carbon cycle is based on carbon dioxide which is a very important element because it is a part of all life. All living things are made of elements such as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. There are such compounds that are necessary for life such as sugars, fats, proteins etc. that joins with carbon to form these essential elements. Carbon is not just in all living things; carbon is also present in the earth’s atmosphere, soils, crust, and oceans. When we look at earth as a system, these components act as storage for large amounts of carbon and when there is movement between these storages, they connect to create cycles. An example of such cycle is photosynthesis in which the carbon in the atmosphere is used to create new plant material. Over time, these plants die or decay, are harvested by humans, or burned for energy or in wildfires. All these processes, which are movements that can cycle carbon back into the atmosphere, are amongst various components within the ecosystems, and after a while releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. Humans breathe oxygen in which plants breathe carbon dioxide and releases oxygen and when human’s burn trees and other solid carbon deposits into the atmosphere, the plants that breathe the CO2 can’t keep up and the CO2 is building up. While the CO2 builds up fast since the past hundreds of years, it traps solar heat and increases the global temperature rapidly. This is not good for humans and if this chain reaction continues, who knows if humans will be able to deal with the ultimate temperature change. Phosphorus exists in many different kinds of soil minerals and rocks. Phosphorus takes place in a slow process. Phosphate and other ions are released from rock as they break down through time into the soil. The phosphate turns into
Christine Richardson
Environmental Science
May 1, 2013
The carbon cycle is based on carbon dioxide which is a very important element because it is a part of all life. All living things are made of elements such as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. There are such compounds that are necessary for life such as sugars, fats, proteins etc. that joins with carbon to form these essential elements. Carbon is not just in all living things; carbon is also present in the earth’s atmosphere, soils, crust, and oceans. When we look at earth as a system, these components act as storage for large amounts of carbon and when there is movement between these storages, they connect to create cycles. An example of such cycle is photosynthesis in which the carbon in the atmosphere is used to create new plant material. Over time, these plants die or decay, are harvested by humans, or burned for energy or in wildfires. All these processes, which are movements that can cycle carbon back into the atmosphere, are amongst various components within the ecosystems, and after a while releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. Humans breathe oxygen in which plants breathe carbon dioxide and releases oxygen and when human’s burn trees and other solid carbon deposits into the atmosphere, the plants that breathe the CO2 can’t keep up and the CO2 is building up. While the CO2 builds up fast since the past hundreds of years, it traps solar heat and increases the global temperature rapidly. This is not good for humans and if this chain reaction continues, who knows if humans will be able to deal with the ultimate temperature change. Phosphorus exists in many different kinds of soil minerals and rocks. Phosphorus takes place in a slow process. Phosphate and other ions are released from rock as they break down through time into the soil. The phosphate turns into
References: (The Nitrogen Cycle) (The Carbon Cycle) (How do humans impact the phosphorus cycle?)