Inorganic & Organic Compounds: Water, Minerals & Fertilizers

• Notes on inorganic compounds, water, minerals, fertilizers, and organic compounds.

Water

• Has an important role in the maintenance of biological systems.

Functions of Water

Temperature Regulation

• Sweat glands in humans produce sweat, which cools the body during evaporation.
• This process of cooling a body via evaporation is called perspiration.
• Plants are cooled by the loss of water vapor from their leaves through transpiration.

Form/Support

• Contributes to the body and provides form and support to plants and animals.
• Worms and jellyfish use water in special chambers to give their bodies support.
• Hydrostatic skeleton is the use of water pressure to provide form and assist in the motion of creatures, such jellyfish.
• Plants grow upright and maintain their shape because of water pressure, known as turgor pressure.

Transport Medium

• Transports substances throughout the body.
• Blood is primarily composed of water, it enables blood cells, hormones, dissolved gases, electrolytes, and nutrients to be transported.

Lubricating Agent

• Water is the main ingredient in saliva, which helps chewing and swallowing and allows food to pass easily down the digestive tract.
• Tears is a primarily water based which keeps the eye lubricated.

Solvent for Biological Chemicals

• A liquid in which substances dissolve is considered a solvent.
• Water is the universal solvent because more materials dissolve in it than any other liquid.
• All chemical reactions in living organisms occur in water.

Reactant

• Plays its role in several classes of chemical reactions.
• Hydrolysis reactions have water added to break bigger molecules into smaller components.
• Water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen atoms to provide energy for complex chemical reactions such as photosynthesis.

Keywords

Constituent

• Being a part of a whole

Lubricate

• Action to minimize friction and allow smooth movement

Minerals

• Essential chemical elements living organisms need to maintain health & proper function.
• Essential minerals for humans include calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chloride, and magnesium.

Macro-elements/Macro-nutrients

• Nutrients required in large amounts by living organisms.
• Composed of Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, and Phosphorus
• Other minerals include carbon, magnesium, hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, and chloride.

Micro-elements/Micro-nutrients

• Nutrients required in only very small amounts for development and growth.
• Iron, iodine, chromium, cobalt, copper, manganese, zinc, and selenium make up this group.

Inorganic Fertilizers

• Used when crops deplete soil of nutrients, fertilizers are used to replenish those nutrients.
• Natural or non-natural mixtures return depleted nutrients to the soil.
• This process improves the nutrient content of the soil and encourages plant growth.
• Nitrates and phosphates are examples of inorganic nutrients that are added to the soil in inorganic fertilizers.

Effects of Fertilizers on the Environment

• Large amounts of fertilizers are proven harmful to the environment.
• Fertilizers wash off into rivers and are poisonous to plant and animal life.
• Accumulation of fertilizers in rivers leads to eutrophication.
• Excessive nutrients end up running off from the land into rivers which causes eutrophication.
• The accelerated growth of water plants blocks sunlight from reaching underwater plants.
• Underwater plants that cannot get sunlight stop photosynthesizing and die.
• Decomposing plants and bacteria use up oxygen which causes fish and other animals to suffocate.
• Oxygen levels are reduced, harming aquatic life.

Organic Compounds

• Molecules that contain carbon, usually bonded with hydrogen.
• Other elements include oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
• Essential for life and more complex in structure compared to inorganic compounds.
• Examples include: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, enzymes, vitamins and nucleic acids, DNA and RNA.

Carbohydrates

• Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen elements form up this group.
• The ratio by which hydrogen to oxygen is 2:1.
• Monomer (building blocks): saccharides (Greek: sugar).

Lipids Cholesterol

• Found in the human body and sourced from both production and diet.
• Cell membranes are a component.
• Needed to produce vitamin D.

Health Effects of Lipids

• Too much cholesterol can deposit on or in blood vessels, leading to atherosclerosis (narrowing of blood vessels.)
• Blockage in a vessel supplying the heart can happen and result in a heart attack.

Types of Cholesterol

HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein)

• HDL is considered the good cholesterol beneficial to the body.

LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein)

• LDL is considered the harmful cholesterol that is harmful in excessive amounts.

Risk factors for high cholesterol

• High saturated fat diet, obesity, lack of exercise, genetics, and aging.
• Fruits & vegetables do not contain cholesterol.

Protein: Enzymes

• The role is centered in the organism's metabolism.
• Act as biological catalysts, speeding up chemical reactions in living organisms without being used up in the process.
• Enzymes are involved in both anabolic reactions (building new molecules) and catabolic reactions (breaking down molecules.)
• Enzymes are crucial in processes such as photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and food digestion of animals.
• Each enzyme has a specific active site that matches the shape of a single substrate.
• When the enzyme binds to the substrate, an enzyme-substrate complex is formed.
• The substrate undergoes a process or chemical reaction, either breaking down or rearranging into new products.
• The products are released from the enzyme, and the enzyme is free to act on another substrate.

Industrial Uses of Enzymes

• Protease is added to Biological washing powders to break down protein stains, like blood or egg.
• Enzyme addition helps processing animal hides in leather production.
• Enzymes aid in the beer-making process in the brewing industry.

Overview of inorganic and organic compounds, focusing on the role and functions of water in biological systems. Includes temperature regulation through perspiration and transpiration, structural support in organisms, and its role as a transport medium.