Every fall, homeowners have the same problem: dead leaves. Trees shed leaves and taint once perfected lawns. To get rid of these leaves, people rake the leaves and assemble them into large piles that trucks come and remove. If these piles are left long enough, they will heat up. On a cold day, steam can be seen rising from these piles of leaves. But why does it do this?
Decomposition is the breaking down of a substance into parts that it was made of. Microorganisms break down organic matter while composting and making carbon dioxide, water, heat, and humus. Composting usually has three phases: 1) the mesophilic (moderate temperature) stage which lasts two days, 2) the thermophilic (high temperature) stage which lasts for four to six days, and 3) the cooling down, maturing phase, which can last up to several months (Columbia University Press, 2000.)
Mesophilic microorganisms carry out stage one. The mesophilic microorganisms break down the stable, readily degradable compounds. The heat they create makes the compost temperature rise quickly. Stage two (the high temperatures) accelerates the breakdown of proteins, fats, and complex carbohydrates, at temperatures of 55 degrees and higher. Many microorganisms that are human or plant pathogens are destroyed. Little holes are necessary to aerate this stage. Stage three has the supply of high-energy compounds that become exhausted. The compost temperature gradually decreases and mesophilic microorganisms take over for, the final phase of "curing" (maturation of remaining organic matter (Southwestern, 2003).)
There are three main gases in compost piles: carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
Carbon provides the energy source and is the "building block" that is 50% of mass microbial cells. Brown and woody materials are very high in carbon. Carbon is more readily available for microbial use if an object has a large surface area. Nitrogen is an important component of the proteins, nucleic acid, amino acids, enzymes and co-entyns necessary for cell growth and function. Any materials that are green and moist are high in nitrogen. The nitrogen cycle is the continuous movement of nitrogen from the atmosphere, to plants, and back to the atmosphere (or directly into plants) again. Oxygen is essential for a compost pile to work. As microorganisms oxidize carbon for energy, oxygen is used up and carbon dioxide is produced. Without enough oxygen, the process will become anaerobic and produce bad smells. Oxygen concentrations greater than 10% are considered best for maintaining aerobic composting.
Respiration is the process by which organic molecules are broken down in a series of stages to synthesize ATP.
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1955) is a play written in the post-war period by Tennessee Williams. It opened at the Morosco Theatre in New York on March 24, 1955, and it was directed by Elia Kazan, a friend of Williams. The play belongs to Minimalism – a movement based on taking a picture at a moment in time – which Tennessee Williams understood as the best way to represent realism. “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” focuses on the members of an Southern American family, specially on the younger son of the family and his wife, Brick and Maggie. The relationship between these characters is not as close as Maggie would like it to be, and that is mainly caused by Brick's behaviour after the death of his friend, Skipper.
In elementary school, we are taught by our teachers that fruit peels can be composted to recycle nutrients back into the soil where they came from. Composting food scraps is not a new idea by any means, but what if it was to be expanded into something much bigger? Recently, a study outlining the environmental impact of recycling digested food waste in comparison to that of chemical fertilizer was published by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. In the experiment, the scientists found that currently, the two were relatively equal in terms of general environmental impact, and that in order for the food waste fertilizer to prevail, further enhancements will have to be made to
The stages of decomposition are: fresh stage, bloat stage, active decay, advanced decay, and dry stage. [1]
We need to stay away from the landfills as much as we can so eventually we can get rid of them all together. The benefits of compost include increased soil organic matter content, nutrients for plant growth, replacement of peat moss in potting media, reduced erosion, plant disease resistance, weed suppression and generally improved plant vigor (Barlaz 62). Instead of taking grass clippings to the trash people can leave them laying in the yard to decompose or they can use them to help make their compost. People can even make their own composting bins to use at their homes. There are several reasons why people should compost. If people start composting they can keep their garbage, yard trimmings or leaves from getting to the landfills. Which in turn will keep those things from getting in our water or water supplies. If these things get in our waterways or water treatment facilities it just makes more work for other people. Also by composting people will help their plants look healthier. Sharon Durham talks about manure, composting and how it effects the soil in her article, “Improving on a Time-Tested Technique.” Durham says, “Composting results in stabilization of nitrogen in organic form for use in soil” (20). The soil the plant is grown in will be better and help the plants produce better if you are growing food. “Compost may even be tailor-made to reduce phosphorus availability and
Carbon is essential to many basic biological functions. Carbon’s unique properties are what make this element the basis of all living matter. Carbon is also responsible for the creation of monomers, polymers, and macromolecules. Monomers are small, simple units of carbon that have been strung together to form larger polymers. Polymers are more complex molecules made from individual carbon monomers. Macromolecules are very large molecules made from carbon based chains, such as polymers. The four classes of macromolecules include carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. The creation of these very important macromolecules is caused by the properties of carbon. These properties include carbon’s ability to form four covalent bonds, carbon’s
Decomposition is a natural process of dead animal or plant tissue will rot and break down. The process is fungi and bacteria. Plants and animals can be recycled. Anything that is living on earth will die at some point. most plants naturally complete their life cycle and die within a year. a 40 kg pig is a resembles to the human body in its fat distribution cover of hair and ability to attract insects. these factors make pigs more like humans when it comes to understanding how the process of decay of the human body. there are 6 stages of decomposition the first one is the living pig . the 2nd stage is initial decay. 0 to 3 days after death shortly after death appears fresh from the outside the the bacteria that before death. were feeding on
mainly composed of methane and carbon dioxide, is the result of the anaerobic decomposition of
CHAPTER-2 Solid Waste Solid waste, are the things you throw away, whether it may be solid or liquid, it’s still considered as solid waste. What is a solid waste? Solid waste is the trash you’ve been making your whole life and as I’ve said before all the things you throw are considered solid waste, here are some examples of solid waste. Waste tires, septage management, scrap metal, latex paint, furniture and toys, garbage appliances, and vehicles oil and anti-freeze empty aerosol cans. Solid waste can also clog canals that are used for lessening the amount of water when it rains, it can also damage our ozone layer as you know the thinner it gets the lesser oxygen is left.
When engaging in this enzyme experiment, there were various steps that were involved in the process of breaking down starch that was present in the fungal and bacterial amylase. First let’s begin by defining what exactly is an enzyme? Well, an enzyme is a biological catalyst that is produced by a cell, thus allowing for these cells to speed up their chemical reactions. Enzymes are very important to us in our everyday lives, they are needed for all our body functions and can be found in our blood, intestinal fluids, the mouth, and stomach. (Vorvick, 2017). This experiment will help us determine if there is any correlation between optimal temperature and catabolization. In order for chemical reactions to occur, the enzyme must lower its activation energy
Yeasts are able to convert carbon sources, like sugars, into ethanol, without air. Yeasts also change sugars into carbon dioxide and water, when air is present (Leady. 2014). When cellular respiration requires oxygen, it is known as aerobic cellular respiration (Leady. 2014). Carbon counts are important because they give the number of carbons in monosaccharide molecules. Glucose has a carbon count of six. Fructose has a carbon count of six. Sucrose has a carbon count of twelve (Leady. 2014).
...ed for building of growth of bacteria. Assuming all other conditions are favourable for biogas production, a carbon-nitrogen ration of about 30:1 is ideal for the raw materials fed into a biogas plant with 2% phosphorous for maximum biological activity. A higher ratio will leave carbon still available after the nitrogen has been consumed, starving some of the bacteria of this. These will in turn die, returning nitrogen to the mixture, but slowing the process. Too much nitrogen will cause this to be left over at the end of digestion (which stops when the carbon has been consumed) and reduce the quality of the fertilizer produced by the biogas plant. The correct ratio of carbon to nitrogen will prevent loss of either fertilizer quality or methane content. Oil cakes and animal urine are found to be suitable nutrients for maintaining C, P and N within the optimum range.
Microbial decomposition releases nutrients into the environment that are needed by other organisms. Microbes are also involved in the cycling of many other important compounds in — and between — ecosystems, including oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. Many microbes use the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, which we need to breathe. As they do this, they create new organic material — themselves — which are then eaten by other organisms. In this way, the cycling of nutrients and energy
Different types of bacteria have different range of temperature they are able to survive. They are generally divided into three types: psychrophiles, mesophiles and thermophiles. Psychrophilic bacteria are able to survive in low temperatures ranging from about -10 to 20°C while thermophilic bacteria are able to thrive in high temperatures ranging from 40 to 75°C. These two types of bacteria are also known as extremophiles due to their ability to survive in extreme conditions. Mesophilic bacteria are bacteria that thrive in temperatures ranging from 10 to 45°C and usually have an optimum growth temperature of about 37°C (M. Furlong, n.d.).
The carbon cycle is a very helpful and unique cycle which allows carbon to be exchange