Question: I have some questions about biology. My first question is about the essential elements to life. I know there are 25 elements, and oxygen and carbon are most utilized. In contrast, the most common elements in he earth's crust are oxygen and silicon. Why? choices are: a) Carbon forms 4 covalent bonds b) Silicon forms 4 covalent bonds c) carbon can form stable bonds with N, O, C, H, S d) Silicon can form stable bonds with N, O, C, H, S e) Silicon forms a tetrahedral structure and carbon does not.
Answer: I'm not sure what your teacher is getting at. There are several reasons why silicon isn't the basis for biological life. Chief among them is the stability of the silicon-oxygen bond. Silicon dioxide is a solid -- it's quartz, which isn't particularly soluble in water. It's very stable, and unlikely to come apart under the physical processes which break and make carbon bonds. Abiogenesis just wouldn't have happened with quartz.
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