Non-metals (carbon)

2. The carbon cycle and formation of crude oil

Required Resources

• Slides 4-5
• Student Worksheet 1

Delivery

• Distribute Student Worksheet 1 which features an unlabelled illustration of the carbon cycle. As a class, students should collectively identify the correct positioning of the labels below the diagram, with discussion of the physical activity carried out at each stage. You may have already covered the carbon cycle, in which case this episode will act as useful revision.
• Ask students to consider the impact of increased burning of fossil fuels (i.e. increased CO2 in the atmosphere) and what this atmospheric increase results in. Similarly ask students what happens in the event of reduced vegetation (i.e. less photosynthesis).
• Ask students to identify the areas within the carbon cycle over which man has influence. They should recognise that man has influenced CO2 production via a number of means.
• Brainstorm the various locations from which oil is extracted (both geographical and type of location). Students should recognise that oil is extracted from below the sea bed as well as on land and should be able to name some of the major oil producing countries. Slides 4 and 5 detail some of the major oil-producing countries.
• Students should use the information within the slides to complete table 2 in Student Worksheet 1.