Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
carbon microphone
carbon monoxide
carbon-neutral
carbon-nitrogen cycle
carbon paper
carbon process
carbon resistor
carbon sequestration
carbon sink
carbon star
carbon steel
carbon tax
carbon tetrachloride
carbon trading
carbon value
carbonaceous
carbonade
Click to move down the list of words
Also available:

World English Dictionary
Dictionnaire Français

carbon cycle

car·bon cy·cle


noun 
Definition:
 
1. carbon flow between organisms and environment: the exchange of carbon between living organisms and the environment. Carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere by photosynthesizing plants and returned by the respiration of plants and animals and by the combustion of fossil fuels.

2. source of energy in stars: a chain reaction believed to generate significant energy in some stars, in which carbon is used as a catalyst to fuse four hydrogen nuclei into one helium nucleus

Advertisement

© 2009 Microsoft