UCSD-TV: Molecules for the Media

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Overview

What can be as clear as glass and harder than steel, or solid black and soft enough to draw pictures with? What can run a car engine and light a Bar-B-Q, or form and direct the delicate nerves in our brains that allow us to understand this page?

CARBON

Carbon is the magical element that combines with other elements to form diamonds and coal, liquid fuels, and most of the major molecules that make up the beautiful and diverse life forms on planet Earth, as well as much of the rocks and dirt of the geography around us. From the sweet sugar in an ice cream sundae, to your shirt - and you - carbon creates it all as it cycles through its reservoirs in the Earth system.

Carbon-based organisms must use the energy derived from carbon molecules to move, breathe, eat, respond to stimuli and reproduce. Human carbon-based organisms also use carbon molecules to run machines. A few organisms can obtain energy from sulfur compounds and some energy comes from heat below the Earth’s surface. The bulk of the energy comes from the sun. Some of the sun’s energy is converted to food energy through photosynthesis and stored as sugars, starches and fats. Even the oil we use to make gasoline comes from organisms that lived millions of years before the first dinosaurs. Today scientists are developing alternative fuels including biofuels—fuels made from sugars or oil produced by plants grown commercially, including corn, sugarcane and algae.

Why This Science Matters

Humans are now leaving behind a huge waste footprint of discarded carbon because of the amount of carbon-based energy they are using for work, transportation, communication, food, shelter, entertainment and just day-to-day living. The carbon must go somewhere when we dump it into our atmosphere, land and water. Are we changing the carbon cycle?

Burning fossil fuels and even eating hamburgers seems to be heating up our planet. What are the consequences of that? Will the Greenhouse Effect cause our Earth System to spiral out of control like it did on Venus? We use carbon in countless forms and some are running out. What are the alternatives and how are we to find and produce the renewable fuels of the future? Universities, established companies and new start-up ventures are all engaged in a race against time to find solutions before we run out of fuel or heat up our home planet beyond repair.

Teacher Credit: Lesson developed by Ann Marie Wellhouse, founder of River Valley Charter School, who currently teaches classes in science leadership and science investigations and has also taught biology and earth science.

	Study Guide \| Explore This Topic \| Meet the Scientist Links & Resources \| Teacher Resources Overview What can be as clear as glass and harder than steel, or solid black and soft enough to draw pictures with? What can run a car engine and light a Bar-B-Q, or form and direct the delicate nerves in our brains that allow us to understand this page? CARBON Carbon is the magical element that combines with other elements to form diamonds and coal, liquid fuels, and most of the major molecules that make up the beautiful and diverse life forms on planet Earth, as well as much of the rocks and dirt of the geography around us. From the sweet sugar in an ice cream sundae, to your shirt - and you - carbon creates it all as it cycles through its reservoirs in the Earth system. Carbon-based organisms must use the energy derived from carbon molecules to move, breathe, eat, respond to stimuli and reproduce. Human carbon-based organisms also use carbon molecules to run machines. A few organisms can obtain energy from sulfur compounds and some energy comes from heat below the Earth’s surface. The bulk of the energy comes from the sun. Some of the sun’s energy is converted to food energy through photosynthesis and stored as sugars, starches and fats. Even the oil we use to make gasoline comes from organisms that lived millions of years before the first dinosaurs. Today scientists are developing alternative fuels including biofuels—fuels made from sugars or oil produced by plants grown commercially, including corn, sugarcane and algae. Why This Science Matters Humans are now leaving behind a huge waste footprint of discarded carbon because of the amount of carbon-based energy they are using for work, transportation, communication, food, shelter, entertainment and just day-to-day living. The carbon must go somewhere when we dump it into our atmosphere, land and water. Are we changing the carbon cycle? Burning fossil fuels and even eating hamburgers seems to be heating up our planet. What are the consequences of that? Will the Greenhouse Effect cause our Earth System to spiral out of control like it did on Venus? We use carbon in countless forms and some are running out. What are the alternatives and how are we to find and produce the renewable fuels of the future? Universities, established companies and new start-up ventures are all engaged in a race against time to find solutions before we run out of fuel or heat up our home planet beyond repair. Teacher Credit: Lesson developed by Ann Marie Wellhouse, founder of River Valley Charter School, who currently teaches classes in science leadership and science investigations and has also taught biology and earth science. ©2010 Regents of the University of California. Terms and Conditions of Use.		Watch Now (English) (57 minutes) Spanish Version For specific clips, scroll ahead to certain segments in the video. For example, if the segment is (6m:27s—14m:06s), then the clip begins at 6 minutes and 27 seconds and ends at 14 minutes and 6 seconds. Introduction (1m:55s—6m:23s) Renewable Fuel from Biomass Waste (6m:27s—14m:06s) High Energy BioGas/Diesel (14m:31s—24m:14s) Algae Biofuel (24m:39s—33m:36s) Enzyme Discovery and Evolution for Commercial Biofuels Applications (34m:00s—43m:02s)