CHEMICALS

COLLIDE

1. IT IS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF ONE OF

THE MOST ABUNDANT GREENHOUSE GAS
IN EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE. ALL ORGANIC
MOLECULES ARE MADE UP OF THIS
ELEMENT. IT IS ALSO WHAT MAKES UP
CHARCOAL, DIAMOND AND THE "LEAD"
OF YOUR PENCIL.
 CHEMICALS
COLLIDE

2. THIS IS THE MOST ABUNDANT GAS IN

EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE, COMPRISING
AROUND 79 PERCENT OF THE LATTER. IT
IS NATURALLY INERT OR NONREACTIVE
BUT SOIL BACTERIA CAN "FIX" THIS INTO
A FORM THAT CAN BE USED BY PLANTS
AND ANIMALS TO BUILD AMINO ACIDS
 CHEMICALS
COLLIDE

3. IT COVERS ROUGHLY 71 PERCENT OF OUR

PLANET'S SURFACE. IT IS UBIQUITOUS AND
FOUND EVERYWHERE IN ALL OF ITS PHASES
- SOLID, LIQUID, AND GAS. ALL LIVING
ORGANISMS NEED THIS TO SURVIVE. IN
FACT, AROUND THREE-FOURTHS OF OUR
HUMAN BRAIN IS MADE UP OF THIS
 CHEMICALS
COLLIDE

4. THIS IS THE EIGHTH MOST COMMON

ELEMENT IN THE HUMAN BODY AND SIXTH
MOST COMMON ELEMENT IN SALTWATER. ITS
PURE ELEMENT HAS NO SMELL BUT ITS
COMPOUNDS SMELL LIKE ROTTEN EGG. IT IS
MOST COMMONLY ATTRIBUTED TO HOT
SPRINGS AND VOLCANOES BUT IS ALSO
FOUND IN CRUDE OIL AND PETROLEUM.
 CHEMICALS
COLLIDE

5. THIS CHEMICAL IS VERY IMPORTANT TO

LIVING ORGANISMS AS AN ESSENTIAL
BUILDING BLOCK OF DNA, RNA, AND OTHER
NUCLEIC ACIDS. IT IS ALSO VERY ABUNDANT
IN EARTH'S CRUST WITH AROUND 1,050
PARTS PER MILLION BY WEIGHT. HUMANS
USE THIS FOR FERTILIZER PRODUCTION,
STEEL PRODUCTION, AND IN SAFETY
 CHEMICALS
COLLIDE

6. PLANT AND ANIMAL RESPIRATION WOULD

NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT THIS CHEMICAL.
IT MAKES UP AROUND 21% OF EARTH'S
ATMOSPHERE, THOUGH IT WAS MUCH MORE
ABUNDANT MANY MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO.
IT SUPPORTS COMBUSTION DESPITE NOT
BEING TRULY FLAMMABLE.
RESOURCES
RENEWABLE
VERSUS
NONRENEWABLE
RESOURCES
 RENEWABLE RESOURCES
These are resources that can
be replenished as quickly as we
use them up.
Examples: sunlight, water,
wind, meat, trees, and other
organic materials
NON-RENEWABLE
RESOURCES
Comes from sources that are finite in
supply on a human timescale, therefore
unsustainable.
This energy comes from sources that will run
out or will not be replenished for thousands or
even millions of years.
Examples: fossil fuels like coal, petroleum,
and natural gas (produced from the remains
of plants buried under the soil for over
millions of years)
ENERGY SOURCES
BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLES
FUNDAMENTALS OF
BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLES
• All matter cycles... it is neither created nor
destroyed...

• As the Earth is essentially a closed system

with respect to matter, we can say that all
matter on Earth cycles.

• Biogeochemical cycles: the movement (or

cycling) of matter through a system
FUNDAMENTALS OF
BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLES
by matter we mean: elements
(carbon, nitrogen, oxygen) or
molecules (water)

so the movement of matter (for

example carbon) between these
parts of the system is, practically
speaking, a biogeochemical cycle
BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLES
WATER
NITROGEN
CARBON & OXYGEN
PHOSPHORUS
SULFUR
WATER/HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
 WATER/HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
 The water cycle is primarily driven by the
heat of the sun.
• Evaporation- process by which water from
the oceans and other bodies of water
evaporates into water vapor and enters the
atmosphere.
• Transpiration- the water absorbed by plants
from the soil escapes from the leaves then
evaporates into the atmosphere.
• Sublimation- the process of snow and ice
changing into water vapor in the air without
first melting into water
 WATER/HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
• Condensation- the process by which water
vapor in the air is changed into liquid water
(formation of clouds)
• Precipitation- water released from clouds in
the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or
hail
 WATER/HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
• Surface runoff- process in which some of
the water that fell on land flows back to the
water bodies
• Infiltration- process by which precipitation
or water soaks into subsurface soils and
moves into rocks through cracks and pore
spaces which may stay underground or find
its way back to the water bodies through
cracks and fissures in the soil.
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON CYCLE

 Carbon (C) enters the biosphere during

photosynthesis:
 CO2 + H2O (carbon dioxide+ water) --->
C6H12O6 + O2 + H2O (sugar + oxygen + water)
 Carbon is returned to the biosphere in cellular
respiration:
 O2 + H2O + C6H12O6 ---> CO2 + H2O + energy
 CARBON FACTS
Living organisms would not exist without it.
The key molecules that make up our
bodies such as proteins, carbohydrates,
and DNA contain carbon as a major
component.
Carbon is also found abundantly in our
atmosphere in the form of CO 2.
Carbon is also trapped within the Earth in
the form of fossil fuels.
 Producers absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
through photosynthesis. These are used as building
blocks for their organic matter and to produce their
own food.
 Carbon is then passed from one organism to another
through consumption and feeding, like when a goat
(primary consumer) eats grass (producer) and the goat
is eaten by a lion (secondary consumer). It falls back to
the soil when the top consumer dies and is broken
down by decomposers.
 Carbon may also be transferred from organisms to the
atmosphere through respiration, where living
organisms inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.
 Some of the carbon that is stored in the soil from
organic matter may be buried for millions of years and
end up as part of fossil fuels, which may be harnessed
in the future for its stored chemical potential energy.
 The oceans also act as carbon reservoirs,
assimilating carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and absorbed by marine organisms
to form calcium carbonate (CaCO ) and build up
the shell of these organisms.
 Aside from these natural process, human
activities in the past centuries have contributed
greatly to the carbon levels in the atmosphere.
Our carbon dioxide emissions from power
plants, automobiles, and industrial processes all
add up to the greenhouse gases that cause
global warming and anthropogenic climate
change.
OXYGEN CYCLE
Photosynthesis and respiration
Producers release oxygen to the
atmosphere through
photosynthesis.
Through respiration, organisms
absorb the atmospheric oxygen
and release carbon dioxide, which
is then taken in by the producers
to complete the cycle.
 CARBON-OXYGEN CYCLE
 Carbon and oxygen are independent of
each other, but are very closely connected
as well as interdependent on each other.
 The four (4) main steps involved in the
completion of this cycle are:
Photosynthesis
Respiration
Combustion
Decomposition
NITROGEN CYCLE
 NITROGEN FACTS
Nitrogen (N) is an essential constituent
of protein, DNA, RNA, and chlorophyll.
Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in
the atmosphere.
Nitrogen must be fixed or converted
into a usable form.
  Nitrogen fixation- Atmospheric nitrogen (N2) which
is primarily available in an inert form, is converted
into the usable form -ammonia (NH3).
1.Atmospheric fixation: A natural phenomenon where the
energy of lightning breaks the nitrogen into nitrogen oxides
and is then used by plants.
2.Industrial nitrogen fixation: Is a man-made alternative
that aids in nitrogen fixation by the use of ammonia.
Ammonia is produced by the direct combination of nitrogen
and hydrogen and later, it is converted into various fertilizers
such as urea.
3.Biological nitrogen fixation: Bacteria like Rhizobium and
blue-green algae transform the unusable form of nitrogen into
other compounds that are more readily usable. These
nitrogen compounds get fixed in the soil by these microbes.

 Nitrification- process that converts
ammonia into nitrate by bacteria.
Initially, the ammonia is converted to
nitrite (NO2−) by the bacteria
Nitrosomonas, or Nitrococcus, etc. and
then to nitrate (NO3-) by Nitro
Bacterium.
 Denitrification-
process in which
the nitrogen compounds makes
their way back into the
atmosphere by converting
nitrate (NO3-) into gaseous
nitrogen (N)
 Assimilation- plants take in the nitrogen
compounds from the soil with the help of their
roots, which are available in the form of
ammonia, nitrite ions, nitrate ions or ammonium
ions and are used in the formation of the plant
and animal proteins. This way, it enters the food
web when the primary consumers eat the
plants.
 Ammonification- When plants or animals die, the
nitrogen present in the organic matter is
released back into the soil. The decomposers,
namely bacteria or fungi present in the soil,
convert the organic matter back into
ammonium. This process of decomposition
produces ammonia, which is further used for
other biological processes.
PHOSPHORUS CYCLE
• Phosphorus is a necessary nutrient for all organisms as it is a
building block of many organic molecules, particularly nucleic
acids and the phospholipid bilayer membrane for the cells of
more complex organisms.
• It is found in nature in the form of phosphate ions (PO ).
Phosphate is found mainly in rocks, released through
weathering to be used by organisms in terrestrial food webs
and is transferred to aquatic ecosystems by surface runoff or
leaching.
• Volcanic eruptions may also be a way for phosphate ions to be
released into the atmosphere, although recently, aerosols have
also contributed to the phosphate content of the atmosphere.
• Phosphorus is also a major component of fertilizers. Hence,
they are also a factor in eutrophication due to fertilizer runoffs.
Dead zones are formed in areas where the numbers of plants
and animals are greatly reduced. This may be due to many
different factors, like oil spills and human activities, but
eutrophication is a very common cause.
•Phosphorus is a necessary nutrient for all organisms as it is a building block of
many organic
molecules, particularly nucleic acids and the phospholipid bilayer membrane for the
cells of
more complex organisms.
•It is found in nature in the form of phosphate ions (PO ). Phosphate is found mainly
in rocks,
released through weathering to be used by organisms in terrestrial food webs and
is
transferred to aquatic ecosystems by surface runoff or leaching.
•Volcanic eruptions may also be a way for phosphate ions to be released into the
atmosphere,
although recently, aerosols have also contributed to the phosphate content of the
atmosphere.
•Phosphorus is also a major component of fertilizers. Hence, they are also a factor in
eutrophication due to fertilizer runoffs. Dead zones are formed in areas where the
numbers of
plants and animals are greatly reduced. This may be due to many different factors,
like oil spills
and human activities, but eutrophication is a very common cause.
SULFUR CYCLE
 SULFUR CYCLE
 Sulfur makes up the disulfide bonds found in the amino acid
cysteine. Thus, it is essential in forming proteins, especially
for more complex organisms.
 It exists in the atmosphere mainly as sulfur dioxide (SO ),
which may come from volcanic activity and hydrothermal
vents, decomposition of organic molecules, or industrial
human activities.
 In the soil and water bodies, sulfur is most commonly found
in its ionic form, sulfate (SO ).
 Atmospheric sulfur may return to the surface through direct
fallout or precipitation.
 Precipitation mixed with sulfur becomes sulfuric acid (H
SO ), making the rain acidic and this is what is called acid
rain. Excess sulfur from industrial processes have been a
major contributing factor to human-induced acid rain. This
causes damage not only to both terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems but also to man-made structures as acid
corrodes and degrades buildings and other structures.
SDG 7 : AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN
ENERGY
 2020 PROGRESS & INFO HIGHLIGHTS
 Global access to electricity increased from 83% in 2010 to 90% in 2018
 Access to clean cooking fuels increased to 63% in 2018 from 56% in
2010
 The share of renewable energy in the global energy consumption
increased from 16.3% in 2010 to 17.3% in 2018. Though there is
progress, we need to further this increase in order to meet the global
long-term climate goals.
 Global primary energy intensity (the measure of how much energy is
used per unit of GDP) improved from 5.2 per cent in 2015 to 5.0 per
cent in 2017 (lower is better).
 Financial aid given to developing countries for clean and renewable
energy increased to $21.4 billion in 2017, double the amount
committed to this effort in 2010, with hydropower projects receiving
the most allocation.