1. Water cycle Carbon/Oxygen Cycle Nitrogen Cycle
Cycles of Matter
Water cycle
Carbon/Oxygen Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle

2. Water Cycle
W.C. is a continuous process in which water moves from Earth’s surface into the atmosphere and back.
There are 3 main parts
Evaporation: the process by which liquid water becomes a gas
Energy is needed in order for evaporation to take place
This energy comes from: THE SUN

3. Water Cycle
Condensation: the process by which water vapor becomes liquid.
Energy is released when condensation occurs
Water droplets collect on dust to form clouds
Precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, hail falling from the sky

4. The Water Cycle

5. Carbon/Oxygen Cycle
Producers and consumers combine to recycle carbon and oxygen
Producers take in carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis and store it and produce oxygen as a waste product
They use it to make sugars and starches (FOOD)
Ex. glucose
Consumers eat the producers and absorb the carbon food molecules

6. HOW HAVE WE CHANGED THE CARBON/OXYGEN CYCLE?
Consumers take in this food and through the process of respiration create carbon dioxide as a waste product.
When consumers die, decomposers break down the remaining carbon and return it to the soil. Decomposers also create carbon dioxide.
Any type of burning of fossil fuels also releases Carbon dioxide into the air.
HOW HAVE WE CHANGED THE CARBON/OXYGEN CYCLE?

7. Examples of the Carbon/Oxygen Cycle

8. Nitrogen Cycle
The nitrogen cycle moves nitrogen from the air to the soil, into living things and back into the soil and back into the air.
Most organisms can’t use “Free” nitrogen (gas)
Nitrogen Fixation: this is the process that changes “free “ nitrogen into useable nitrogen
Most nitrogen fixation is done by bacteria (commonly found on plant roots)(legumes)
Once nitrogen has been “fixed” it can be used by organisms.

9. Nitrogen cycle Plants and animals absorb the nitrogen
Decomposers break down their waste and dead plant material and return the nitrogen back to the soil
Bacteria then absorbs the nitrogen and converts it back into “Free” nitrogen gas by the process of denitrification.
Nitrogen can cycle through plants and animals many times but eventually is returned to the air

10. Examples of the Nitrogen Cycle