The importance of Carbon.

1. Photosynthesis occurs and the energy from the sunlight is stored using carbon and water bonds in the chloroplasts of plants. This process is called fixation. This is how simple sugars are formed and these are the bases of exchange.
2. Organisms eat these plants to gain this energy or when the plant dies the carbon is decayed. The plants also use this energy.
3. The carbon can be transferred to us through plants or other organisms that have eaten the plants.
4. The carbon is returned to the atmosphere when are bodies or other organisms  decay.

We need this carbon for vital processes such as respiration or the production of carbohydrates, nucleic acids, fats and proteins. There are many vital chemical reactions within are body that carbon has a great importance for and we could not survive without carbon as it is a main constituent. I am now going to discuss how we use carbon in carbohydrates, nucleic acids, fats and proteins.

Proteins are highly complex compounds found in all living organisms. They are made up of amino acids in peptide chains and have genetic functions around the body. They all contain carbon. Peptide bonds are covalent bonds formed by joining a carboxyl group of one amino acid to another. Amino acids could  not be joined together with out carbon and there for could not complete there function.

Nucleic acids are composed of nucleiotides. They are very large and complex molecules that contain the genetic code for the organism. They have a vital 5 carbon ring sugar.

Carbohydrates provide energy for most living organisms and they are also used in the production of fats. They are firstly produced in photosynthesis and are passed on through the carbon cycle to organisms because carbohydrates are made up of simple sugars which use carbon and water to store the sunlight energy. We not be able to have access to this energy without carbon and therefore would not survive. Carbohydrates are used in the production of fats and therefore hence the importance of carbon.

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Websites :

Books

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology AS-Heinemann

Alevel Biology- Glen and Susan Toole