Life is amazing!!

Today we started working with bioelements in inorganic chemistry, the chemical elements that make up all living things. Was shocked because all organisms are composed of only 24 elements. Each day that passes I am surprised and I marvel at the complexity presented by the universe.
I let all my colleagues a brief summary of the importance of these elements.

Elements of Life All living things are made, qualitatively and quantitatively by the same chemical elements. Of all the elements that are in the earth's crust, only about 24 are components of living things. This confirms the idea that life has developed on particular items that have physicochemical properties suitable consistent with the chemical processes that take place in living organisms. 

They are called biogenic elements or bioelements those chemical elements that are part of living. Based on their abundance (no importance) can be grouped into three categories:

• Primary or main bioelements: C, H, O, N: They are the major elements of living matter, constitute 95% of the total mass. 

• Side bioelements S, P, Mg, Ca, Na, K, Cl: We found a part of all living things, and at a rate of 4.5%. For example, sulfur is found in two amino acids (cysteine and methionine), present in all proteins.  Phosphorus  is part of the nucleotide compounds are nucleic acids. 

• Trace: Are named to all chemical elements are present in organisms in vestigial form, but which are indispensable for the harmonious development of the organism. We have isolated some 60 trace elements in living things, but only 14 of them can be considered common to almost everyone, and these are iron, manganese, copper, zinc, fluorine, iodine, boron, silicon, vanadium, chromium, cobalt, selenium , molybdenum and tin. This elements are: iron, manganese, Iodine, fluorine, cobalt, silicon, chrome, zinc, lithium and molybdenum.

 

I leave some pages so they can visit and learn something more about these elements as important to our growth and development.
After reading this information I suggest an activity, we will try to make a list of the foods we eat every day, and try to answer:

• Am I eating a variety of foods?

• Do I have in mind when eating, ingesting all the nutrients needed?

• Try to think how we could place these issues in our classes, since most of our students do not know how to balance our diet