Grandma Johnson had very sentimental feelings toward Johnson Canyon, Utah, where
ID: 302941 • Letter: G
Question
Grandma Johnson had very sentimental feelings toward Johnson Canyon, Utah, where she and her late husband had honeymooned long ago. Because of these feelings, when she died she requested to be buried under a creosote bush in the canyon. Describe below the path of a carbon atom from Grandma Johnson’s remains, to inside the leg muscle of a coyote. Assume that the coyote is completely carnivorous and it only eats animal prey such as rodents, rabbits and other small mammals. Be as detailed as you can be about the various molecular forms that the carbon atom might be in as it travels from Grandma Johnson to the coyote and the cellular processes that it must pass through. NOTE: The coyote does not dig up and consume any part of Grandma Johnson’s remains.
Explanation / Answer
Gramma dies, and after her death she is buried. The body will be broken down by decomposers which consume her and , they release Carbon as respired CO2 or as waste. They release carbon and oxygen too as molecules. The carbon atom has unique properties that allow it to form covalent bonds to as many as four different atoms, making this versatile element ideal to serve as the basic structural component of the macromolecules. Carbon comprises about half of the soil organic matter mass. Carbon dioxide reacts in the soil to produce carbonic acid (H2CO3), carbonates and bicarbonates. Carbonates are inorganic, less soluble and tend to accumulate in soils under alkaline conditions. forms of calcium/calcite, potassium, magnesium, and sodium. Bicarbonates are soluble and may be removed in drainage forms of calcium/calcite, potassium, magnesium, and sodium. some of the carbon becomes chemically protected from decomposition by converting to humus. Soil humus is dark colored mixture of modified lignin and newly synthesized organic compounds. resistant to decomposition and can bind to clay for further protection. Partially decomposed organic molecules provide important nutrients to plants and microbes and in this way the organic carbon molecules are transformed into biomolecule and then consumed by the coyote. Plants also take carbon dioxide from the air and use it to make food. Animals (any herbivore) then eat the food and carbon is stored in their bodies. When this animal is eaten by the coyote Carbon moves into the coyote’s blood stream after absorption of the digested food and from their the carbon moves into the muscle of the leg.
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