Role of living things in the oxygen and carbon cycles :

a) Carbon cycle :

1. All living things has carbon as the basis of life.

2. Carbon made up about 18% of the human body. If you weight 60kg, there are about
10.8kg of carbon in your body.
3. Carbon cycle is often linked with oxygen cycle.
4. In a carbon cycle, there are several processes that take carbon out of the atmosphere
and moving carbon into the atmosphere.
5. Processes that take the carbon out of the atmosphere :
- Photosynthesis
o CO2 (carbon dioxide) + sunlight + water oxygen + glucose
o Large area of plants helps to remove a lot of carbon from the atmosphere
- Ocean
o Carbon dioxide dissolves in ocean to form carbonic acid
o Carbonic acid is the source for the sea organisms to make shells.
o Shells will become limestone when the organisms died.

6. Processes that moves carbon into the atmosphere :

- Respiration (breathing)
o All animals in the earth breathes in oxygen and produces carbon dioxide.
o Plants also perform respiration during the night time.
- Decay
o When plants or animals died, the carbon in the body is released into the
atmosphere or stored in the ground as fuel.
- Combustion (burning)
 o When plants, animals or fossil fuels are burned, carbon are released into the
atmosphere.
7. Why carbon cycle is important ?
- It helps to keep the earth warm by trapping heat at the earth’s atmosphere.

8. How human affects the carbon cycle ?

- Deforestation
- Burning of fossil fuels from cars or factories
- These two processes can amplify the greenhouse effect of the earth, causing the
earth’s temperature to rise.

b) Oxygen cycle :

1. Oxygen is present in the form of water (H2O) in a human body. Water makes up about
70% of the human body.
2. Similarly to the carbon cycle, there are processes that use and produce oxygen to
maintain the cycle.
3. Processes that use oxygen :
- Respiration (breathing)
o All animals and plants use up oxygen and produces carbon dioxide during
respiration.
- Decomposing (decay)
o Decomposing uses up oxygen because of the decomposer carrying out the
process. Decomposers includes fungi or bacteria.
- Rusting
o Rust is formed when iron is exposed to oxygen, forming iron oxide.
- Combustion
o Combustion means fire is produced. It requires fuel, oxygen and heat.
Combustion process uses oxygen and produces carbon dioxide.
 4. Processes that produce oxygen :
- Plants (producers)
o It produces oxygen via photosynthesis. These oxygen are released into the
atmosphere.
o One of the biggest source is from phytoplankton. （浮游生物）

*a lot of oxygen stored up in the oxide minerals under the earth’s crust. They are not available for us
to breathe.

Water cycle

1. Again, water cycle is an important cycle in our mother nature.

2. Water comes in the form of ice (solid) , water (liquid) and water vapour (gaseous state).
3. Water involves the movement of water across the land, ocean, atmosphere and
underground.
4. In a cycle, there must be processes that makes movement of water from land into the
atmosphere and from the atmosphere back to the land.
5. Process that moves water from land into the atmosphere :
- Evaporation
o Accounts for 90% of the movement of water from land into the atmosphere
o It involves water turning into water vapour by taking energy from heat.
o Therefore, hot water evaporates faster than cold water.
o The source of heat energy is from the Sun.
- Sublimation
o Water directly turns from ice or snow to water vapour.
o It happened in really icy condition with strong wind and sunlight.
- Transpiration (Plants)
 o Plants releases water from their leaves, and evaporates into the
atmosphere.
o It will release more water as it grows.
o Account for about 10% of movement of water from land into the
atmosphere.
6. Water in the atmosphere is in the form of cloud. It is formed by the process of condensation.
7. Process that moves water from the atmosphere into the land :
- Precipitation
o Water gathers in the cloud to form droplets, when it is heavy enough it will
fall back into the earth.
o Depending weather and temperature, it can be in the form of snow, hail,
snow or sleet.
8. Some water does not take part in the water cycle. These water can be found underground or
in the ocean.
9. Major source of water for living things are from freshwater such as lakes, glaciers, snow
caps, rivers, and below the ground in groundwater storage. We cannot drink salty ocean
water.