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2.7 Chemical Balance
An imbalance of some chemical compounds can lower the environment’s ability to
support life by changing the conditions under which life has developed over millennia. Most life forms cannot survive outside a narrow range of temperature, chemical
balance, aridity, nutrient intake, and other parameters that make homeostasis possible. It is easy to implicate certain elements or compounds in causing all current ills
of the world. Too much carbon in the atmosphere has been directly linked to climate
change, but eliminating it altogether would lead to the collapse of all plant life on
earth. Even cursory considerations show that no element or compound is inherently
bad (or good) in every case. Rather, only when they exceed certain concentrations
do they cause harm.
This happened 2.35 billion years ago when cyanobacteria began photosynthesizing and oxygen levels began to rise, eventually triggering a massive die-off of anaerobic microbes. The dominant life forms could not mount any defense against the
deadly toxic effects of an oxygenating atmosphere, and life on earth was nearly
extinguished (Blaustein 2016). The same result from the more recent end-Permian
mass extinction event caused by large-scale volcanism in Siberia 251 million years
ago where all life on earth was nearly wiped out. Again, this was due to a large
change in the air and water to which species could not adapt. Shifts in atmospheric
chemical composition transfer to ocean chemical composition led to the most devastating ecological event of all time (Sahney and Benton 2008). Anthropogenic
changes to the chemistry of our air and water may again tip the balance and contribute to the next mass extinction.
Energetic chemical bonds reacting between relatively small numbers of elements
are responsible for most natural resources on which we depend. We have found
industrial uses for most of the 118 elements on the periodic table including the synthesized 30 heaviest radioactive ones used in atomic research. Each compound
emerges through processes that aggregate molecules in special organic and inorganic configurations. Metal alloys, wood, stone, petroleum, soil, water, food, and
breathable air are all examples of the chemical compounds we depend on. The 10
most ubiquitous elements in the human body are found among the first 20 lightest
ones listed. These same elements that combine to form over 99% of our bodies are
found everywhere else in the natural and built environment. Take out sodium, and
they are the same macronutrients found in rich and productive soil (Lindbo et al.
2012), supporting the adage that “we are what we eat” and demonstrating the staggering complexity that can arise through the combination of a small subset of elemental building blocks. Each arrangement defines their bond properties and how
much energy it takes to create, sustain, or break them.
Oxygen, the third most abundant element in the universe, is a powerful accelerant that drives combustion and other one-way oxidation reactions causing a substance to give up its electrons atom by atom to oxygen. Steel rusts when oxygen
reacts with iron and electrolytes present even in moist air. Fire burns when oxygen
2 The Energy Essential: Physical Forces Animate All Things
2.7 Chemical Balance
An imbalance of some chemical compounds can lower the environment’s ability to
support life by changing the conditions under which life has developed over millennia. Most life forms cannot survive outside a narrow range of temperature, chemical
balance, aridity, nutrient intake, and other parameters that make homeostasis possible. It is easy to implicate certain elements or compounds in causing all current ills
of the world. Too much carbon in the atmosphere has been directly linked to climate
change, but eliminating it altogether would lead to the collapse of all plant life on
earth. Even cursory considerations show that no element or compound is inherently
bad (or good) in every case. Rather, only when they exceed certain concentrations
do they cause harm.
This happened 2.35 billion years ago when cyanobacteria began photosynthesizing and oxygen levels began to rise, eventually triggering a massive die-off of anaerobic microbes. The dominant life forms could not mount any defense against the
deadly toxic effects of an oxygenating atmosphere, and life on earth was nearly
extinguished (Blaustein 2016). The same result from the more recent end-Permian
mass extinction event caused by large-scale volcanism in Siberia 251 million years
ago where all life on earth was nearly wiped out. Again, this was due to a large
change in the air and water to which species could not adapt. Shifts in atmospheric
chemical composition transfer to ocean chemical composition led to the most devastating ecological event of all time (Sahney and Benton 2008). Anthropogenic
changes to the chemistry of our air and water may again tip the balance and contribute to the next mass extinction.
Energetic chemical bonds reacting between relatively small numbers of elements
are responsible for most natural resources on which we depend. We have found
industrial uses for most of the 118 elements on the periodic table including the synthesized 30 heaviest radioactive ones used in atomic research. Each compound
emerges through processes that aggregate molecules in special organic and inorganic configurations. Metal alloys, wood, stone, petroleum, soil, water, food, and
breathable air are all examples of the chemical compounds we depend on. The 10
most ubiquitous elements in the human body are found among the first 20 lightest
ones listed. These same elements that combine to form over 99% of our bodies are
found everywhere else in the natural and built environment. Take out sodium, and
they are the same macronutrients found in rich and productive soil (Lindbo et al.
2012), supporting the adage that “we are what we eat” and demonstrating the staggering complexity that can arise through the combination of a small subset of elemental building blocks. Each arrangement defines their bond properties and how
much energy it takes to create, sustain, or break them.
Oxygen, the third most abundant element in the universe, is a powerful accelerant that drives combustion and other one-way oxidation reactions causing a substance to give up its electrons atom by atom to oxygen. Steel rusts when oxygen
reacts with iron and electrolytes present even in moist air. Fire burns when oxygen
2 The Energy Essential: Physical Forces Animate All Things