Lesson 8 of 8 · Earth Systems

Experiment⭐ 30 XP🌋 Rock Realm

The Carbon Cycle Under Pressure

🧪Lab Brief #8

Earth Systems.

🎯 Your mission

Set it up. Test it. Be amazed.

⚡ The twist

The slowest changes are the biggest ones.

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Mind = Blown

🪨 Every grain of sand on every beach used to be a mountain.

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Make a hypothesis first

Predict: which will erode faster?

What You'll Learn

Carbon moves constantly between air, oceans, living things and rock. Those flows were roughly balanced for thousands of years; burning fossil fuels adds carbon that had been locked in rock for millions, faster than the slow sinks can absorb it.

Key Words

Tap a word to see its definition.

Materials Needed

carbon flux data
poster paper
ruler
coloured pens

Safety First

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Steps

Step 1 — Read

Read the explanation above and note the two key terms before you start.

Step 2 — Do

Draw the carbon cycle with arrow widths proportional to real annual flows. Mark the fossil fuel arrow and state what fraction of the natural flows it represents.

Step 3 — Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 — Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Check Your Understanding

Question 1

1 of 2

A carbon sink is a store that:

How sure are you going to be?😐 maybe

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Where you see this in real life

This is shaping the ground you walk on, slowly, every single day.

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Stretch Challenge

Try this in real life this week.

Find a rock outside and try to guess how old it is.

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For the dinner table

“What's the slowest change you can think of?”

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