Q. What is the respective importance of water, carbon and nitrogen for living beings?
Water is the major solvent of living beings and it is necessary practically for all biochemical reactions, including as reagent of photosynthesis. Several properties of water are very important for life.
Carbon is the foremost chemical element of organic molecules; carbon dioxide is also reagent of photosynthesis and product of the energetic metabolism of living beings.
The Nitrogen is a basic chemical element of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins that in their turn are the main functional molecules of living beings; nitrogen is also part of the nucleic acid molecules, the basis of reproduction, heredity and protein synthesis.