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Photosynthesis is foundation of food on Earth. Liquid water is essential for carbon-based life. Chemical bonding of carbon molecules requires liquid water. [30] Water has the chemical property to make compound-solvent pairing. [31] Water provides the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide. Hydration of carbon dioxide is needed in carbon-based life.
Most of the Earth's carbon is stored inertly in the Earth's lithosphere. [7] Much of the carbon stored in the Earth's mantle was stored there when the Earth formed. [30] Some of it was deposited in the form of organic carbon from the biosphere. [31]
Argon is the most abundant noble gas in Earth's crust, comprising 0.00015% of the crust. Nearly all argon in Earth's atmosphere is radiogenic argon-40, derived from the decay of potassium-40 in Earth's crust. In the universe, argon-36 is by far the most common argon isotope, as it is the most easily produced by stellar nucleosynthesis in ...
Carbon on Earth naturally occurs in two stable isotopes, with 98.9% in the form of 12 C and 1.1% in 13 C. [1] [8] The ratio between these isotopes varies in biological organisms due to metabolic processes that selectively use one carbon isotope over the other, or "fractionate" carbon through kinetic or thermodynamic effects. [1]
Mountain building processes result in the return of this geologic carbon to the Earth's surface. There the rocks are weathered and carbon is returned to the atmosphere by degassing and to the ocean by rivers. Other geologic carbon returns to the ocean through the hydrothermal emission of calcium ions. In a given year between 10 and 100 million ...
Carbon (from Latin carbo 'coal') is a chemical element; it has symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 electrons. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. [13] Carbon makes up about 0.025 percent of Earth's ...
By mole fraction (i.e., by quantity of molecules), dry air contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other trace gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere.
Schematic representation of the overall perturbation of the global carbon cycle caused by anthropogenic activities, averaged from 2010 to 2019. [1] The atmospheric carbon cycle accounts for the exchange of gaseous carbon compounds, primarily carbon dioxide (CO 2), between Earth's atmosphere, the oceans, and the terrestrial biosphere.