All living things are made of carbon. Carbon is also a part of the ocean, air, and even rocks. Because the Earth is a dynamic place, carbon does not stay still. It is on the move!In the atmosphere, carbon is attached to some oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide. Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make their own food and grow. The carbon 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 quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
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Photosynthesis, which only occurs in plants, is the process in which the sun gives ATP and NADPH to plants by using the formula: 6CO2 + 6H2O --> C6H12O6 + 6O2. The plant has carbon dioxide and water, then when it gets the energy from the sun it forms glucose and oxygen. The plant uses the glucose as food and energy while at the same time the oxygen is getting released for us to breathe. In photosynthesis there are two different phases that occur, light and dark phase. During the light phase it takes the energy from the sun and captures it in the chlorophyll which is located in the chloroplast. Then in the dark phase it then turns everything into glucose and oxygen. Cellular Respiration is the exact opposite of photosynthesis where as it occurs in any living organism and the equation is flipped so it is now C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O. Now it takes glucose and sugar and turns it into energy that the living organism keeps but then releases carbon dioxide as a waste product for plants to start the cycle of photosynthesis and cellular respiration once again.
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