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20,060 BCE
1 million years ago a dinosaur ate lunch
1 million years ago, a nice quiet long neck dinosaur was hungry so she ate some leaves for lunch. She CONSUMED the carbon in those leaves, and her body used them to make DNA. -
20,000 BCE
RIP Mama Long Neck
60 years later, after a long happy life with many children, the long neck dinosaur died naturally in her sleep. Her children and grandchildren lovingly buried her body in the long neck graveyard at the base of a volcano. The carbon in her body DECOMPOSED and entered the soil. -
10,000 BCE
Fossil Fuel is formed
Several centuries later the volcano erupts! The beautiful long neck dinosaur graveyard is buried under several feet of volcanic ash. A couple hundred years later, a massive earthquake forces the dinosaur graveyard even deeper into the earth. The carbon found in the decaying dinosaur bodies in the graveyard is transformed into fossil fuel due to intense heat, pressure, and time. -
The fossil fuel oil is turned into gas
At an oil refinery in Canada, the fossil fuels deep underground are drilled up and turned into gas. The gas is shipped down to rural Mexico. -
Flora Gomez rides the bus to school
It's a Wednesday. Flora Gomez rides the bus to school in rural Mexico. She likes to ride in the back of the bus and watches the exhaust come out of the bus. Through COMBUSTION in the bus's engine, the carbon in the fossil fuel is now in the atmosphere. -
An Orange Tree Grows
Flora's bus passes a grove of orange trees. One of the orange trees sucks up the carbon from the bus and uses it for PHOTOSYNTHESIS. It takes the carbon to make delicious ripe oranges. A couple weeks later, someone picks the ripe fruit and ships it to Savannah, GA. -
Mrs. Noland eats breakfast
It's the first day of school! Mrs. Noland wakes up early to get a good breakfast. She eats oatmeal, eggs, and an orange. Yeah, THAT orange! She CONSUMES the carbon in the orange and uses it to make lipids. -
Mrs. Noland walks the dogs
A couple days later, Mrs. Noland comes home and takes her dogs on a walk. Through CELLULAR RESPIRATION, Mrs. Noland exhales the carbon from the orange and it returns to the atmosphere.
