Sulphur is one of the components that make up proteins and vitamins. Proteins consist of amino acids that contain sulphur atoms. Sulphur is important for the functioning of proteins and enzymes in plants, and in animals that depend upon plants for sulphur. Plants absorb sulphur when it is dissolved in water. Animals consume these plants, so that they take up enough sulphur to maintain their health.
We find many sulphur compounds on Earth. These include sulphur dioxide, elemental sulphur, sulphuric acid, salts of sulphate or organic sulphur compounds such as dimethylsulphide and even amino acids in our body. All these chemical compounds do not last forever. Most of the earth's sulphur is tied up in rocks and salts or buried deep in the ocean in oceanic sediments. Sulphur can also be found in the atmosphere. It enters the atmosphere through both natural and human sources. Natural recourses can be for instance volcanic eruptions, bacterial processes, evaporation from water, or decaying organisms. When sulphur enters the atmosphere through human activity, this is mainly a consequence of industrial processes where sulphur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gases are emitted on a wide scale. All these particles will settle back onto earth, or react with rain and fall back onto earth as acid deposition. The particles will than be absorbed by plants again and are released back into the atmosphere, so that the sulphur cycle will start over again.
At the same time there are spatial / geographical cycles. One example is when sulphur compounds move from the ocean to the atmosphere, are transported to the land, come down with the rain and are transported by rivers to the ocean again.
Sources:
http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/Nr_6_Feb__2__6_acid_rain/C__The_sulphur_cycle_5i9.
http://www.lenntech.com/sulphur-cycle.htm
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~mgonzalez/Micro521/23.html
That's all I have for my biojournal entries! Thank You!
Environmentalist Blogged:3:12 PM
