David Hare-Scott wrote:
"symplastless" wrote in message
...
Thank you for your input.
I do not know what you mean when you say nutrient? Are you referring to
essential elements? A tree cannot absorb a nutrient, rather they absorb
elements.
Nonsense. They absorb ions and molecules.
Not nutrients. Elements are single groups of atoms of the same
kind such as calcium and nitrogen.
There is no elemental Calcium in the environment for them to absorb but they
can absorb Calcium ions. No macroscopic plant is capable of absorbing
elemental Nitrogen as it isn't present in the atmosphere. Nor can they
absorb molecular nitrogen which is.
Nutrients are substances that contain
the essentials for life, in the best amounts. Nutrients contain an energy
source, elements, vitamins, and other essentials for life. PLANTS CANNOT
ABSORB NUTRIENTS.
By your idiosyncratic definition possibly so but who cares as you are the
only one who uses it.
Saying you feed plants with plant food, calling
fertilizers food, and saying that plants absorb nutrients indicate an
absolute ignorance of photosynthesis!! Elements are single groups of
atoms of the same kind such as calcium and nitrogen.
A nutrient is a substance that contains an element with an energy source
and an element without. Nitrogen is NOT a nutrient for chlorophyll
containing trees.
You may have defined it out of existence but most people would say that as
the chlorophyll molecule contains nitrogen atoms and that trees absorb such
nitrogen atoms in the form of nitrogen compounds then in some sense it is a
nutrient.
But didn't you just say that trees absorb elements? Make up your mind do
they or don't they?
A substance that is very high in elements and energy it is called a
nutrient. To make this clear, please allow me to share this with you.
Essential elements. Look at your chart of Atomic Properties of elements.
(Not the Atomic Properties of nutrients) That's where you will find your
elements.
If you look on page 373 in Merriam-Webster's CollegiateŽ Dictionary, Tenth
Edition you will find a list of Chemical Elements as well as symbols,
atomic numbers and atomic weight.
You cannot grasp the basics of chemistry and you want us to go and read the
periodic table? It clearly did nothing for you.
David
We all know that certain plants can absorb nitrogen from the air and
"fix" it, or convert to ammonia which other plants use. Wiki says it is
bacteria and not the plant itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_fixation
But as you, Billy and me are pointing out, this is not the place to
start teaching chemistry.
Frank