Vani Harlarian

These compounds are taken up by plants as nutrients from the soil and converted into plant proteins (amino acids). Plant proteins become animal proteins when eaten and metabolized by herbivorous animals, and when carnivorous animals eat the herbivorous. These proteins return to the soil through animal excrement and the decomposition of dead animals and plants, and are converted into carbon dioxide, water, and ammonia (gaseous compound of nitrogen and hydrogen) by a set of bacteria in the soil. A portion of this ammonia is converted into soil nitrogen (fixed nitrogen) by another set of bacteria and the balance is released into the atmosphere as free nitrogen (N2).” (nitrogen cycle, n.d.) Human impact on this cycle is very significant. Farmers plant crops such as; peas, beans, and alfalfa. These crops pull nitrogen from the air which helps raise the rate of nitrogen fixation on the land. Farmers also plant corn and wheat which are sprayed with nitrogen derived from industrial fixation. All of these crops help humans to survive. Having these crops benefiting humans we are more than doubling the amount of nitrogen that’s moved from the atmosphere to the land. When sulfur is released by burning fossil fuels, which humans do, this is killing and polluting our lakes and ponds and killing our forests. With these and other chemicals being put into our land, these are reaching our oceans and big areas of water and this will

Anthony Bourdain is a critically acclaimed chef, writer, and television star. He has appeared in shows such as “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations”, “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”, and “Top Chef,” and published works such as “Don’t Eat Before Reading This”, “Medium Raw”, and “The Nasty Bits.” Trained at Vassar College the Culinary Institute of America, Bourdain is known for his love of food. In 2000, he wrote a book called Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and his first chapter is entitled “Food is Good”. In the chapter, Bourdain discusses his trip to France with his family, and how the trip transformed from hating the exotic food to loving it. Through his structure, descriptive language, and childhood stories,

Later in his article John Coleman explains some of the main components of our atmosphere. Most of the air we breathe today is mostly nitrogen. He says in page 3 of his article that “…in front of my face contains 100,000 molecules of atmosphere. Of those 100,000, 38 are CO2: 38 out of a hundred thousand. That makes it a trace component…how can this tiny trace disrupt the entire balance of the climate of Earth. It can not.” (3) In the book Global Warming by

The biosphere consists of a compound infusion of gases; the main components are oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. The concentration of these gases have been changing for many years. For the most part, this is influenced by human activity. In a persistent effort to improve the quality and longevity of life, humans (particularly in industrialized societies) have tendencies to negatively impact the environment, and at the same time, we strive to replenish what we have nearly depleted to balance the scale.

Denitrifying bacteria = convert nitrates in soil or water to gaseous nitrogen, releasing it back into the atmosphere

*Nitrogen, which accounts for 78 percent of the atmosphere, exists in the atmosphere in a form unusable by living organisms.

She told the audience to “just eat food.” She claimed that food for sale in the supermarkets do not deserve to be called food. In the same speech she said that real food is disappearing from supermarkets and from the eating world. Pollen states that ordinary food is still being sold and what we should eat but, it is hard to find. He then proposes rules to help find ordinary foods. The first rule is not to eat anything that our great-grandmother would not recognize as food. He then gives an example of Go-Gurt. He says your great-grandmother would not know it was yogurt or toothpaste. He then elaborates on the ingredients in yogurt today vs. what your great-grandmother would consider yogurt-milk inoculated with a bacterial culture. He then names some other foods our ancestors would not recognize such as Twinkies. He says that he has a personal policy of not eating anything incapable of rotting. Food science lies to our bodies; artificial colors, flavors, synthetic sweeteners, and novel fats affect the senses that we rely on to assess new foods. Historically, food has been processed in order to preserve them but, industrial processing aims to do much more than extend shelf life. Today’s foods are designed to sell us more food by pushing our evolutionary buttons-our inborn preferences for sweetness, fat, and salt. He says that the FDA lets food makers freely alter traditional

Like all other elements, nitrogen is very important in life but in moderation. We sometimes cause an overload

In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.

Nitrogen makes up 3% of our body. It is an essential compound for the production of proteins and amino acids. Nitrogen is normally taken in through food. Humans can't take it from the soil or air so we need other organisms to turn it into something we can use. Nitrogen can be recycled, but it generally leaves through the urine because its a key component of ammonia. If the nitrogen can still be used it will be mixed with the filtrate and reabsorbed.

The atmosphere is a layer of gases that cover the earth. It is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% of other small elements such as argon and carbon dioxide. Humans use oxygen to perform cellular respiration and plants use carbon dioxide to perform photosynthesis.

I have always enjoyed baking and cooking, as a result, I often bake with my family members. This means that I do have some prior knowledge of importance of nutritional values, convenience, safety and shelf life of foods. Food Science has actually been integrated into our everyday lives, and that is what makes it so appealing to me. The food industry is one of the largest industries in the world and I am eager to be part of this important industry, researching on how to produce food that is of better quality. Research that has previously been done by Food scientists have largely contributed to the higher quality of life experienced in many countries today, as compared to that of previous decades. To work with food is a heavy responsibility as people place their trust in those who produce the food they consume. I believe that it would be of great satisfaction for me to see a food

The article ‘New Green Solvent Could Help Clean Our Air’ has clearly demonstrated the application and limitation of using chemicals to filter the contaminated air that affects human health.

Much like the glass of a greenhouse, gases in our atmosphere sustain life on Earth by trapping the sun 's heat. The Earth’s atmosphere contains several different gases that act like a blanket, keeping the Earth warm. Water vapour and some trace gases like CO2, CH4 (methane), O3 (ozone), N2O (nitrous oxide), are “IR active”, i.e. they absorb heat energy, and stop the warmth from escaping into space. Without the entrapment of heat, the earth’s mean temperature would be -180 C and life, as we know it today, would not be possible. These gases are present in the atmosphere in tiny quantities compared to the amounts of oxygen and nitrogen. But even a small change in the concentration of these gases may create an effect that could change our

Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to harbour life. Our planet 's rapid spin and molten nickel-iron core give rise to an extensive magnetic field, which, along with the atmosphere, shields us from nearly all of the harmful radiation coming from the Sun and other stars. Earth 's atmosphere protects us from meteors, most of which burn up before they can strike the surface. Nitrogen and Oxygen are the predominant gases in the atmosphere, accounting for about 99 percent of dry air. While 1 percent is mixture of all other gases make up the remaining 1 percent. All the gases found in the atmosphere are natural except CFCs (invented by Thomas Midgley, Jr. was an American mechanical engineer and chemist).