Carbon fiber is polymers of carbon having a diameter of 5 to 10 micrometers. Mostly they are made of rayon or polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The fiber is coated with an organic compound like polyethylene oxide (PEO) etc. This keeps the filaments protected and held together. It has a high resistance to chemicals and heat. It has a low weight, high tensile strength, and high stiffness. All these properties made it suitable for military uses, aerospace, and the sports industry. It is used as a reinforcement to support different materials. When mixed with plastic resin it produced another strong substance called a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer. It is expensive to produce but stronger and lighter.
What is the carbon cycle?
It is a biogeochemical cycle of carbon in which it exchanges between abiotic environments including the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and living organisms. The carbon cycle was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley. Carbon is present in the atmosphere in the form of Carbon dioxide and Methane. Plants absorb carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and convert it into biomass through a process of carbon fixation. The animals eat plants and exhale some of the carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. When the animals and plants die and the bacteria did not consume it can convert into petroleum and coal. That is another source of carbon. When petroleum and coal are used it releases carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. If the animals and plants are consumed by the microbes then it releases it as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The cycle is complicated because some of the carbon is not passing through a complete cycle. Some of the carbon dioxides are dissolved in the ocean and other bodies of water. The carbon dioxide reacts with water producing carbonic acid. carbonic acid reacts with rocks producing different carbides. These carbides are then extracted from their ores which releases carbon dioxide on heating. So there are different cycles involves in the carbon cycle. some are making a complete loop, some are short cycles.
