Carbon in the environment form the carbon cycle. For example, photosynthetic plants draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (or seawater) and build it into biomass, as in the Calvin cycle, a process of carbon fixation. Some of this biomass is eaten by animals, while some carbon is exhaled by animals as carbon dioxide. The carbon cycle is considerably more complicated than this short loop; for example, some carbon dioxide is dissolved in the oceans; if bacteria do not consume it, dead plant or animal matter may become petroleum or coal, which releases carbon when burned. Carbon can form very long chains
Carbon dioxide combustion of all carbon-based fuels, such as methane (natural gas), petroleum distillates (gasoline, diesel, kerosene, propane), coal, wood and generic organic matter produces carbon dioxide and, except in the case of pure carbon, water. As an example, the chemical reaction between methane and oxygen: It is produced by thermal decomposition of limestone, by heating (calcining) at about , in the manufacture of quicklime (calcium oxide, ), a compound that has many industrial uses: Iron is reduced from its oxides with coke in a blast furnace, producing pig iron and carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the industrial production