Ideally, the carbon cycle would keep Earth’s carbon concentrations in balance, moving the carbon from place to place and keeping atmospheric carbon dioxide levels steady. These processes that release carbon into the atmosphere are known as carbon sources. Raising cattle for food also releases a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. Any process that uses fossil fuels-such as burning coal to make electricity-releases a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. Some processes release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they absorb. The ocean is another example of a carbon sink, absorbing a large amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They continually take carbon out of the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. Forests are typically carbon sinks, places that absorb more carbon than they release. When plants die, the carbon goes into the soil, and microbes can release the carbon back into the atmosphere through decomposition. As plants photosynthesize, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For example, carbon continually flows in and out of the atmosphere and also living things. The carbon cycle describes the flow of carbon between each of these places. It is also stored in places like the ocean, rocks, fossil fuels, and plants. Carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide, is even a part of the air we breathe. Carbon makes up the fats and carbohydrates of our food and is part of the molecules, like DNA and protein, that make up our bodies. Carbon is an element that is essential to all life on Earth.
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