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Aluminum warrants special mention because it is the most abundant metal and the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust; [3] despite this, it is not essential for life. With this sole exception, the eight most highly abundant elements in the Earth's crust, making up over 90% of the crustal mass, [3] are also essential for life.
The carbon cycle is a biogeochemical cycle that is important in maintaining life on Earth over a long time span. The cycle includes carbon sequestration and carbon sinks. [4] [5] Plate tectonics are needed for life over a long time span, and carbon-based life is important in the plate tectonics process. [6]
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. [1] It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during reactions with other substances.
See also: Carbon-based life: Fossil fuels: coal, methane and petroleum Textile industry: cellulose Metallurgy: alloys, especially carbon steel 7: N: Nitrogen 2: 15: Bacteria and archaea: nitrogen fixation by diazotrophs All forms of life on Earth: essential component of amino acids and of nucleic acids Earth's atmosphere, soil, and life forms ...
Agricultural interest in 18th-century soil chemistry led to better understanding of nutrients and their connection to biochemical processes. This relationship between the cycles of organic life and their chemical products was further expanded upon by Dumas and Boussingault in a 1844 paper that is considered an important milestone in the development of biogeochemistry.
The major parts of the biosphere are connected by the flow of chemical elements and compounds in biogeochemical cycles. In many of these cycles, the biota plays an important role. Matter from the Earth's interior is released by volcanoes. The atmosphere exchanges some compounds and elements rapidly with the biota and oceans.
The prebiotic chemistry of life had to be reductive in order to obtain, e.g. Carbon monoxide (CO) and Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) from existing CO 2 and N 2 in the atmosphere. CO and HCN were precursor molecules of the essential biomolecules, proteins, lipids, nucleotides and sugars. [4]
The study of the chemistry behind biological processes and the synthesis of biologically active molecules are applications of biochemistry. Biochemistry studies life at the atomic and molecular level. Genetics is the study of the effect of genetic differences in organisms.