Carbon Study

Carbon

Did you know that carbon is one of the most important elements that makes our planet. This element can be dangerous but can also be good. Carbon can be a solid, gas and a liquid. This special element can be in living and nonliving things. Did you know that our bodies all have carbon in them? Decaying leaf matter (Humus) is 70% carbon. Also did you know that our earth is made out of 118 elements. Carbon is used to make coral and shellfish, then gets turned into limestone after a while.

What is carbon dioxide (co2)

Carbon dioxide is an important gas. It traps heat in our atmosphere, stopping us from freezing to death. Carbon dioxide is what we breathe out after we breathe in oxygen. Co2 gets created when you burn fossil fuels, also when you burn fossil fuels it creates global warming, which i’ll explain later.This element (co2) is known as a greenhouse gas which means it can ‘trap’ and retain heat. Plants need carbon dioxide to live. They breathe it in through their leaves and then with sunlight they make oxygen which is called photosynthesis.

   

Global Warming

 Excess carbon gets trapped in the atmosphere. 

When you burn fossil fuels it causes global warming, global climate change. Global warming expands land and water. It also makes ice sheets melt in really cold places around the world. These large amounts of melted ice turns into water that flows into streams, rivers, lakes and seas. This means that our water levels are increasing which is causing major floods. 

How do we prevent global warming?

The way we can prevent global warming is to stop burning fossil fuels. If we all stand up and stop doing things that create global warming then it can hopefully stop.