Question

The percentage of naturally occurring elements making up the human body (see table2.1) is similar to the percentage of these elements found in other organisms. How could you account for this similarity among organisms?

Short answer

The naturally occurring elements are common in humans and other organisms in percentage due to the requirement of essential elements for the metabolic processes that are most common in the organisms.

Step-by-step solution

Definition for essential elements

There are certain organic elements that are necessary for the growth and survival of all organisms. The essential elements are the component that is involved in the general body functioning.

Humans, as well as other organisms, share many similar living characteristics. The basic essential elements that are mostly similar in all organisms are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

Human body

The human body is a complex system that requires most of the elements in exact balanced quantities. There are different types of organ systems that perform different bodily functions.

Naturally occurring elements are present on the earth as much as 92%. Of these, the essential elements are required by the living organisms. The percentage of essential elements in the living organisms ranges 20–25%.

Composition of elements in the human body and other organisms

Most of the essential elements are common in the living organism. It is due to the chemical reactions that are commonly occurring in these organisms. The chemical reactions involved in the living organism require common precursors or biomolecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and fats.

The example is that humans require 25 elements out of the total essential elements, but organisms like plants require only 17. This slight variation may exist among different organisms depending upon their body organization and the metabolic reactions taking place in it.

Hence, a similarity is seen among humans and other organisms in the requirement of natural elements due to the similar metabolic functioning as well as the levels of organization of the body.