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 called dry ice. Liquid carbon dioxide forms only at pressures above 5.1 atm; the triple point of carbon dioxide is about 5.1 bar (517 kPa) at 217 K (see phase diagram). The critical point is 7.38 MPa at 31.1 °C. Another form of solid carbon dioxide observed at high pressure is an amorphous glass-like solid. This form of glass, called "carbonia", is produced by supercooling heated at extreme pressure (40–48 GPa or about 400,000 atmospheres) in a diamond anvil. This discovery confirmed the theory that carbon dioxide could exist in a glass state similar to other members of its elemental