• Question: Where do we put all the carbon?

    Asked by The Ge Ni U S to Andrew, Jade, Jessica, Kevin, Lynn on 22 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Jess Wade

      Jess Wade answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      Good question. Just like there is a water cycle (rain > rivers > sea > evaporate > cloud > rain) there is a carbon cycle. Everything is made from carbon- the ocean, the air, the rocks. Sunlight and carbondioxde causes photosynthesis in plants, which die and give off some carbon to the soil. This contributes to the fossils and fossil fuels we dig up to get all of our electricity. We burn the fossil fuels in factories and cars, putting carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Animals and plants also give out carbon dioxide when they breathe.
      But we can store carbon and take it in- this is called carbon sequestration. The sea can absorb some carbon dioxide. We can also trap it and avoid dangers of climate change. We can plant more plants, build peat bogs, fertilize iron, or just inject the carbon into the ground. It’s really hard to do though, so it is better that we turn to solar panels and renewable energy.

    • Photo: Kevin Honeychurch

      Kevin Honeychurch answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      An extremely good question. I was at a conference yesterday and people were showing it possible to convert carbon dioxide, end pollutant causing greenhouse effects back into usable carbon compounds to make new products. They were doing this using electrochemistry.

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