Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
and are caught in a tiny inbreath that sucks you into the translucent green interior
of the leaf. By depriving the air of a carbon dioxide molecule, your leaving cools
the Earth.
Giant molecular beings surround you and take you to a great green chamber deep
in the cell—the chloroplast. A blinding flash of sunlight shakes you to your core.
You are joined to other carbon and hydrogen atoms. The newly forged chemical
bonds that bind you to your fellow atoms hold the sun's energy. You are now part
of a sugar molecule, beginning a new journey through peaceful green sap.
You feel a tugging downwards, towards the plant's roots. Slowly you move
through wide tubes, ever downwards, pulled by a ceaseless but subtle flow that
takes many other molecular beings along with you.
You reach the very tip of a growing root hair and pass into a growing cell. All
around you there is frenetic activity as new root cells are made, pushing the root
ever further in its incessant search for nutrients. Your root finds a crack in the sol-
id granite beneath the soil. It breaks into the crack, splitting the rock as it swells.
Once again oxygen lovers embrace you, tearing you apart, releasing the solar en-
ergy you have held for so long. Now, once again, you belong to a carbon dioxide
molecule, breathed out by the root into the surrounding soil.
There has been much rain, and the soil is waterlogged. You feel an irresistible
attraction for a passing water molecule, and together you become carbonic acid,
which instantly releases a single, tiny hydrogen ion, the smallest being in the
chemical world. The carbonic acid molecules around you release a vast horde of
hydrogen ions into the soil.
The hydrogen ions dissolve the granite, releasing calcium and silicon atoms, long
incarcerated in the rock. You feel irresistibly attracted to one of these calcium
atoms as it drifts near you. You bond with it to become liquid chalk.
You are pulled downwards by the flow of ground water. Now your great river
journey begins. You hear a rushing, gushing sound, and suddenly you enter the
flow of the river as it tumbles over great boulders and waterfalls on its way to the
sea.
