Wiktionary
n. the physical cycle of carbon through the Earth’s biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere that includes such processes as photosynthesis, decomposition, respiration and carbonification.
WordNet
n. the organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again
a thermonuclear reaction in the interior of stars
Wikipedia
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to making the Earth capable of sustaining life; it describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere, including carbon sinks.
The global carbon budget is the balance of the exchanges (incomes and losses) of carbon between the carbon reservoirs or between one specific loop (e.g., atmosphere <-> biosphere) of the carbon cycle. An examination of the carbon budget of a pool or reservoir can provide information about whether the pool or reservoir is functioning as a source or sink for carbon dioxide. The carbon cycle was initially discovered by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, and popularized by Humphry Davy.
Usage examples of "carbon cycle".
Now Simon would be part of the carbon cycle, food for bacteria and crabs and then sandpipers and gulls, thus slowly melting into the biomass under the dome.
Eventually much of that limestone will end up feeding volcanoes, and the carbon will return to the atmosphere and fall to the Earth in rain, which is why the whole is called the long-term carbon cycle.
But there's masses of anthracite, huge amounts of liquid hydrocarbons, and probably diamonds, too, since it's a carbon cycle.
A premature detonation of the carbon cycle, which was being-or will be being-tested by the Brothers in an attempt to resist a rising underground of psi-men, threatening the world-wide dungeon they had made there.
A premature detonation of the carbon cycle, which was beingor will be beingtested by the Brothers in an attempt to resist a rising underground of psi-men, threatening the world-wide dungeon they had made there.
For stars shine with the liberated energy of building atoms, of hydrogen converted into helium, chiefly, through the carbon cycle.