Matter And Energy Dbq

Advances in modern science have had great impacts on our ability to understand how matter and energy cycle throughout systems. The cycling throughout networks can be explained by the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy, which states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. This cycle applies to many things, such as energy cycling through a food web, carbon traveling through the biosphere in the carbon cycle, and the movement of energy and materials that are used during photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The cycling of matter and energy is essential for life and has great effects on a number of processes. One example of the cycling of matter and energy is a food web. A food web is a graphic that depicts …show more content…
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants create food for themselves which occurs in the cytoplast organ of the cell. They absorb carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy to produce glucose and oxygen (Doc C). Cellular respiration on the other hand, is the process occurring in the mitochondria by which organisms create energy to power cellular processes. This process takes in glucose and oxygen to create carbon dioxide, water, and energy in the form of ATP (Doc C). These processes follow the law of conservation of matter and energy as the amount of products is always equal to the amount of reactants in a chemical equation. So the amount of glucose and oxygen created during photosynthesis is equal to the amount of carbon dioxide and water used and the amount of carbon dioxide and water produced during cellular respiration is equal to the amount of glucose and oxygen used. Many people notice that the products of cellular respiration are the reactants of photosynthesis and the products of photosynthesis are the reactants of cellular respiration. This is because the two processes work together to provide organisms with food and …show more content…
In this situation, the matter being transferred is carbon. It starts with a plant, which takes in carbon in the form of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Then a consumers eats it, so the carbon that was in the plant is now in the animal (Doc B). These organisms also transfer carbon in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through cellular respiration which returns to the plant through photosynthesis (Doc B). When the organisms die, the carbon leaves the body and moves into the soil and atmosphere as the organisms decay. Some of the carbon in the soil is returned to the atmosphere through microbial respiration and decomposition. The other carbon becomes compressed, turning into natural resources (Doc B). These natural resources are burned by humans for energy. In the process, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere. The cycle repeats itself forever, since the carbon is recycled they can’t run out of it. Therefore, the carbon cycle follows the law of conservation of matter and