The carbon cycle and climate change
Carbon moves constantly between air, living things and the ground — but humans are now adding extra carbon dioxide faster than natural processes can remove it.
Part of your national curriculum
- Chemistry: Earth and atmosphere: Understand the carbon cycle and the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand the carbon cycle and the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate
Key learning points
- • The natural carbon cycle
- • Human impact
- • The greenhouse effect and climate
This lesson at a glance
- 26 minutes
- 14 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 14
Watch first
The carbon cycle and climate change
An English teaching video on this topic from CENTURY Tech. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Understand the carbon cycle and the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 14
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · The natural carbon cycle
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 14
Learn
The natural carbon cycle
Plants remove carbon dioxide from the air by photosynthesis, storing carbon in their tissues. Animals eat plants, passing carbon along food chains. Respiration by plants and animals releases carbon dioxide back into the air. Decomposers release carbon dioxide as dead matter decays.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 14
Learn
Human impact
Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) for energy and transport releases carbon dioxide that had been locked away for millions of years. Deforestation reduces the number of trees able to absorb carbon dioxide, both effects increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
Quick check
Part 5 of 14
Quick check
Which human activity most directly adds extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?
Reset break
Part 6 of 14
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 7 of 14
Quick check
How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle?
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 14
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · The greenhouse effect and climate
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 14
Learn
The greenhouse effect and climate
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas: it lets sunlight in but absorbs and re-emits heat radiating from Earth's surface, warming the atmosphere. Rising carbon dioxide levels are enhancing this natural effect, contributing to global warming and climate change.
Quick check
Part 10 of 14
Quick check
Why is carbon dioxide called a greenhouse gas?
Challenge round
Part 11 of 14
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 12 of 14
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Plants remove ____ dioxide from the air by photosynthesis, storing carbon in their tissues.
Respiration by plants and animals releases carbon ____ back into the air.
Mastery quiz
Part 13 of 14
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: The carbon cycle and climate change
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which human activity most directly adds extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?
2. How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle?
3. Why is carbon dioxide called a greenhouse gas?
Lesson round-up
Part 14 of 14
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Why the school greenhouse failed
A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.
The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.
The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
- Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
- Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.
Method and results
WritingWrite the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.
1 page + results table
Conclusion
WritingExplain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.
6–8 sentences
Labelled diagram
DiagramDraw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.
1 labelled diagram
Reading and notes
ReadingRead the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.
Half a page of notes
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Understand the carbon cycle and the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate