The Carbon Cycle

ATP is manufactured in a similar way when carbon-to-carbon bonds are broken. The carbon cycle is an energy compacting process. The addition of a third phosphate group to adenosine diphosphate yields a high-energy bond (figure 10-10).

Figure 10-10 The carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide is incorporated into carbohydrate by photosynthesis. Then, by a series of degradation processes including respiration, it is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.