The Carbon, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen Cycles and the Human Impact on Essay

The Carbon, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen Cycles and the Human Impact on These Cycles - Essay Example Carbon cycle is typically carried out whenever a hydrocarbon fuel or petroleum uses oxygen for combustion to run an engine of a vehicle or a facotry equipment. Like respiration, during combustion the carbon and hydrogen content of fuel are burned to yield water and carbon dioxide as products given off to the atmosphere. These products as well as the energy released by the exothermic reaction are then absorbed by the plants so the latter manages to produce its own food as photosynthesis takes place with the help other nutrients besides the sustenance provided by carbon dioxide. These plants consequently emit oxygen back into the atmosphere and possess carbohydrates, formed out of using carbon dioxide and water, with its stored energy to be used by the living organism once again. When weathering occurs, phosphate cycle begins when the inorganic materials containing phosphorus and phosphate ions in certain ocean salts or rock sediments are transported to land. Plants eventually take them in and are transferred to herbivores upon consumption and these herbivores may be eaten further by carnivorous animals so that the latter are also imparted a share of phosphorus or phosphates. At the point of death, they are brought back to soil by the decomposers that feed on decaying bodies with phosphorus and these materials may return to the ocean or be reconstituted into the rocks by means of run-off water.