Final answer:
The seven elements that make up our natural environment include oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon. They are integral to the formation and functioning of living organisms, as well as composing the Earth's crust and atmosphere.
Step-by-step explanation:
Elements That Make Up Our Natural Environment
The natural environment is composed of various elements that contribute to both living organisms and the non-living world. The four elements common to all living organisms are oxygen (O), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and nitrogen (N), which are critical for the formation of organic molecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. These molecules are the building blocks of life, found within cells, tissues, and organ systems.
In the context of the Earth's crust and atmosphere, oxygen is the most abundant, followed by other elements such as silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. These eight elements account for about 98% of the Earth's solid matter. When we look at the abundance of elements in the earth's crust, oxygen and silicon stand out for their significant contributions to the mass and volume.
The elements are found in different proportions in living versus non-living components of Earth. For example, the atmosphere is rich in nitrogen and oxygen but contains little carbon and hydrogen, whereas the earth's crust contains oxygen and some amount of hydrogen but has less nitrogen and carbon. Understanding these elements are essential as they obey the same chemical and physical laws regardless of their presence in living organisms or the inorganic world.
Conclusion
Identifying and understanding the elements that compose the natural environment is crucial in fields like biology, geology, and chemistry. They play a fundamental role in the formation of various forms of matter and are instrumental in biogeochemical cycles that recycle inorganic matter between the living organisms and their environment.