Topic Summaries

Decomposition

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Resource cycles and environmental change

  • Decomposition is the breakdown of substances into smaller substances, carried out by bacteria and fungi.
  • Increasing temperature, oxygen and water availability increases the rate of decay of biological material as bacteria and fungi grow faster.
  • The rate change in the decay of biological material is equal to the change in value divided by time.
  • Gardeners and farmers try to provide optimum conditions (e.g. neutral pH) for rapid decay of waste biological material to produce compost.
  • Compost is used as a natural fertiliser.
  • Anaerobic decay produces methane gas, which can be carried out in a biogas generator to produce fuel.

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