Humus

Humus is the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms. This soil contains the nutrients for plants to grow. The better the humus in the soil the better your plants will grow. In nature, humus is constantly introduced into soil as plant debris, dead animals, and other organic matter that decomposes on the ground.  (http://www.green-trust.org/wordpress/2010/08/15/what-is-humus/)



( cheap dirt from my very own garden! Humus is in soil therefore this is classified as humus)

Fungi

Fungi are classified in their own Kingdom. They are neither plant or animal. It is similar to a plant but has no chlorophyll to aid in making their own food. They absorb nutrients from their surroundings for food. Fungi breaks things down and return nutrients to the soil. 


Examples of Fungi:

• Mushrooms
• rusts
• smuts
• truffles
• yeasts
• molds

(http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212089/fungi.htm)

(Mushrooms have the spore bearing fruiting body of a fungus. Like Fungi they are not a plant and cannot undergo photosynthesis. )

      

Bacteria

( Scary to imagine hundreds of bacteria on your toilets but there are. Bacteria is everywhere and your toilet is just one of the places. Bacteria thrive in moist areas, and live off organic waste, which can be found in nearly every public and home restroom.)

They are a large domain of single-cell, prokaryote microorganisms. Bacteria is nor plant or animal but in a class of its own. Bacteria comes in three main shapes: spherical, rod shaped, and spiral. They are found everywhere from toilets, soil, water, plants, animals, deep in the earth's crust, arctic glaciers, bathtubs, and your showers. You can't escape them, they follow you where ever you go. (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/157973.php)

Autotroph

Autotroph comes from the Greek "auto" meaning "self" and "troph" meaning "nutrition." Autotrophs are therefore "self-feeders."  It is the ability to be self-sustained by producing food  and energy from inorganic compounds such as carbon dioxide. This includes plants and algae.
(http://factoidz.com/what-is-an-autotroph-how-plants-make-energy)

( A flower is an example of an autotroph. It feeds itself and gains energy by photosynthesis)

Enzymes

Enzymes are proteins that serve as catalysts. They speed up or slow down reactions while remaining unchanged. 

Three basic functions:

• increase the rate of reaction
• act specifically with only on reactant also called substrate to produce products
• regulates from a state of low activity to high and vice versa

(http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/570enzymes.html)

Lipases (enzymes acting on lipids)
fats/oils (+ water) _Lipases(enzyme)______ fatty acids + glycerol


(http://www.biotopics.co.uk/other/morinf.html)

Osmosis

Osmosis is a process which the movement of water molecules from a solution of higher water potential to a solution of lower water potential through a partially permeable membrane, and is present in animal or plant cells.
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/cmb/cells/pmemb/osmosis.html

(An example of osmosis would be dipping a sponge into water, because there is a higher concentration outside, so the water goes in and makes the sponge expand.)

Cohesion

Cohesion is the sticking together of particles in one particular substance. Also know as attraction between molecules. Cohesion of water is how well it sticks to itself. It is caused by hydrogen bonds.

(Water is an example of this. It is strongly cohesive as each molecule makes four hydrogen bonds to other water molecules in a tetrahedral configuration.)

Simple Fruit

A simple fruit is classified in this category if it develops from a single ovary containing one or more carpels and may or may not include additional modified accessory floral structures. It is either fresh or a dry fruit. Fleshy foods are often edible and seen in your local super market. The three main kinds of fleshy fruit are the berry, the drupe, and the pome. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/simple+fruit)

Examples:

• grapes
• tomatoes
• oranges
• lemons
• cucumbers
• peaches
• plums

(Tomatoes are classified in the berry category because the ovary wall of the carpel becomes almost completely fleshy at maturity)

Aggregate fruit

Aggregate means collection of small fruits. It is a fruit consisting of many individual small fruits derived from separate ovaries within a single flower, borne together on a common receptacle http://www.fruitsinfo.com/aggregate-fruit.php Examples: Raspberries Blackberries Strawberries Apples (Apples are etaerio of drupes which is an aggregate fruit type.)

Imbibition

Imbibition is the act of consuming liquids, the absorption of a liquid. It is the act of imbibing which is caused when the taking up of fluid by a colloidal system results in swelling. It is reversible and is exhibited by many biological compounds, particularly by cell-wall constituents such as pectin, celluloses, and lignin. (http://botanydictionary.org/imbibition.html)

(This is an example of imbibition, the plant is consuming the liquid of water from the blue circular water container and absorbing it allow photosynthesis to occur to feed itself.) 

Photosynthesis

It's the process when plants use energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration converts into ATP, giving the plant fuel. The photosynthetic process uses water and releases the oxygen that we absolutely must have to stay alive. Plants need only light energy, CO₂, and H₂O to make sugar. The process of photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts, specifically using chlorophyll, the green pigment involved in photosynthesis. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/photosynth/intro.html

 (Flowers are needed for the uptake of water as photosynthesis is the combining of sunlight, CO2 and water to make sugar and some extra water and oxygen.)

Herbivores

Herbivores are animals that only eat plants or grass. By eating only this specific diet they get all their nutrients and energy mostly from the plants. Many animals who are herbivores eat all day long such as cows. Herbivores cannot eat meat, they have a special digestive system which can only digest plants. ( http://www.blurtit.com/q765769.html)

Examples of herbivores :

• cows
• sheep
• rabbits

(cows are constantly eating grass throughout the day and can't digest anything else so they are considered herbivores eating mainly grass)

Carnivores

A carnivore is an animal that gets their food from killing and eating another animal. Since carnivores have to hunt down and kill other animals they require a large amount of calories. This means that they have to fuel more frequently. Carnivore comes from the latin word "meat eater".

Examples of carnivores:

• lion
• snake
• frog
• eagle
• spiders

(Depending on the pedigree you feed your dog they are carnivores. Mike Sagman, a writer for Dog Food Advisor announces "From DNA studies, we know dogs evolved directly from the timber wolf somewhere around 15,000 years ago.And wolves are clearly carnivores. By genetic pedigree, dogs demonstrate similar and noticeable carnivorous traits." http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/canine-nutrition/dogs-carnivores-omnivores)

Omnivores

An omnivore is a kind of animal that eats other animals or plants. Omnivores eat plants, but not all kinds of plants. Unlike herbivores, omnivores can't digest some of the substances in grains or other plants that do not produce fruit. They can eat fruits and vegetables, though.  

Examples of omnivores are:

• grizzly bears
• striped skunks
• racoons
• polar bears
• humans
• blue jays
• woodpeckers

(http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep10b.htm)

(Monkeys are omnivores depending on the type of species. Many will eat insects but when they can eat meat they well, they have their exceptions on their environment.)

Acid

On a PH scale that ranges from 0 to 14 acid falls between 0 and 7.
The properties of acid are:
- reacts with most metals to form hydrogen gas
- tastes sour like lemons
- frequently feels sticky
- usually gases or liquids

Some examples of acids are soda, vinegar, battery acid, orange juice, tomato juice, urine, acid rain, saliva, and grapefruit.

(Vinegar is one of the many example of acid. It is a 2 on the PH scale http://staff.jccc.net/pdecell/chemistry/phscale.html)

Bases

A base's characteristics are:
- feels slippery
- strong bases can be dangerous and burn your skin
- tastes bitter
- react with oils and greases
- frequently solids

The higher on the PH Scale the more alkaline it is. Some examples of bases are baking soda, cleaning products such as bleach, and ammonia.

(Bleach is a base because it reacts with grease and oils to remove them from areas around your home)

Buffers are used in Commercial Products

A buffer prevents or separates potentially antagonistic entities. It is a substance that minimizes change in the acidity of a solution when an acid or base is added to a solution.  Overall the buffer balances and moderated the PH of the solution. 

("Shampoo, for example, contains buffers of citric acid and sodium hydroxide, which work to balance out the natural alkalinity of soap, which would otherwise burn the scalp." http://www.ehow.com/list_7645120_everyday-uses-buffers.html)

Trait, are we really spitting images of our parents?

According to Merriam Webster a trait is a distinguishing quality such as a personal character, an inherited characteristic from parent to offspring. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trait?show=0&t=1315440251) 

( my father passed the trait of a loud abnxious laugh, impatience and stubbornness to me while my mother passed her shy, independent, and compassionate trait towards me)

Covalent Bonds!

Covalent bonds are a form of chemical bond formed by the sharing of one or more electrons, especially pairs of electrons, between atoms.  (http://www.answers.com/topic/covalent-bond) It is known as the stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons.  Covalent bonds represent chemical potential energy. 



  (Lets pretend my pink elastic is a rubber band. 

  The bond can bend and stretch, but if you pull

  hard enough it will break)                                                                       

Carbon

What is Carbon you might say? Well, it is a chemical element much like oxygen or hydrogen. It is most commonly know in the shape of diamonds or granite and is abundant. Greenhouse gases such as CO2 contain carbon molecules. Carbon dioxide is the most greenhouse gas released by humans. Carbon only becomes carbon dioxide when each atom of carbon joins with two atoms of oxygen. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-carbon.htm)


  (Granite from my very own kitchen. Granite is made from Carbon)