27 results for “carbon”
Plants & Fungi
Trees and Forests
Carbon Wood is about half carbon by dry weight, and all of it came from carbon
Article · 4 min read
The Human Body
Lungs and Breathing
carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide in the blood rises, as it does during exercise, the brainstem
Article · 4 min read
Chemistry
The Chemistry of Life
carbon. Why carbon? A carbon atom can form four strong bonds with other atoms at the same
Article · 3 min read
Plants & Fungi
Photosynthesis: How Plants Eat Light
carbon. Carbon dioxide enters the leaf through thousands of microscopic pores on its underside, and an enzyme
Article · 3 min read
Chemistry
Acids and Bases
carbon dioxide from the air, which forms carbonic acid and slowly lowers their pH. More acidic
Article · 3 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Atoms
carbon has six neutrons, but a little has eight, and that carbon-14 is slightly unstable
Article · 4 min read
Chemistry
Chemical Reactions
carbon dioxide and two of water. Every carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atom that went in comes
Article · 3 min read
Planet Earth
The Atmosphere
carbon dioxide that governs the climate, amounts to a few hundredths of a percent. Water vapour
Article · 4 min read
Life & Biology
The Origin of Life
carbon dioxide, hammered by leftover debris from the formation of the solar system. Within a few hundred
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
The Life of a Star
carbon and oxygen. For a star like the Sun that is the end of the line
Article · 3 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
The Periodic Table
carbon, oxygen and the elements up to iron by fusion in stellar cores, and the heavier
Article · 4 min read
Planet Earth
Weather and Climate
Carbon dioxide and other gases let sunlight in but trap the heat radiating back out, the greenhouse
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Comets, Asteroids and Pluto
carbon dioxide, ammonia and dust, left untouched in the cold for 4.6 billion years. Most spend
Article · 4 min read
Plants & Fungi
Fungi
carbon, nitrogen and minerals to the soil, where plants take them up again. The soil itself
Article · 4 min read
Planet Earth
Volcanoes
carbon dioxide, build pressure. When the pressure exceeds the strength of the rock above, the volcano
Article · 4 min read
Planet Earth
Rocks, Minerals and Fossils
carbon with its atoms locked in a rigid three-dimensional lattice; graphite, the soft grey stuff
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Nebulae
carbon and silicate, like fine soot and sand, which block starlight and make parts of a nebula
Article · 3 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Mercury and Venus
carbon dioxide, 92 times thicker than Earth's. That blanket traps the Sun's heat so efficiently
Article · 3 min read
Planet Earth
Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes
carbon-rich rock and releasing carbon dioxide through volcanoes, it has acted as a planetary thermostat
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Exoplanets: Worlds Around Other Stars
carbon dioxide, methane and sulphur dioxide in the atmospheres of distant worlds. The dream is to detect
Article · 3 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Uranus and Neptune
carbon from methane into diamonds that rain slowly down toward the centre. Methane in the upper
Article · 4 min read
Planet Earth
Inside the Earth
carbon between rock, air and sea, keeping the climate habitable over geological time. The core's magnetic
Article · 4 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Energy and Heat
carbon; the Sun delivers ten thousand times that to the planet's surface every moment. The physics
Article · 4 min read
Life & Biology
Dinosaurs and Mass Extinctions
carbon dioxide, acidified the oceans and heated the planet. Three others, at the ends of the Ordovician
Article · 3 min read
Planet Earth
The Oceans
carbon dioxide humans have emitted, which makes the water more acidic and harder for corals and shellfish
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Mars
carbon dioxide and so thin that the pressure at the surface is less than one percent
Article · 4 min read
Animals
Whales and Dolphins
carbon to the seabed when it dies. And in their songs, their names, their learned hunting
Article · 4 min read
