Matter Makes Everything

Matter makes up everything we know and love. The people we talk to, the air we breathe, the clothes we wear. It is separated into three categories (the states of matter): solids, liquids, and gasses.

In this blog, we've talked a lot about coral bleaching. To fully understand the problem of coral bleaching, we first need to know the different solids, liquids, and gasses present in the endangered environment.

It is a common misconception that coral bleaching can be caused by the pollutants in the water, but this is not true. Of course, pollutants can harm the coral reefs in other ways, but not my specific ecological concern; coral bleaching, which is caused by the rising temperatures of the ocean.

SOLIDS

Coral skeletons are made up of aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate.

Rocks are any naturally occurring solid mass or congregation of mineral matter. Corals usually grow on limestone rocks, which is what dead coral skeletons turn into.

Coral polyps and zooxanthellae, the living organisms that make coral reefs what they are, are like any other living organism, made up of many different types of solid molecules. The most common elements that compose them are oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus.

LIQUIDS

Water is a liquid consisting of two hydrogen molecules, and one oxygen molecule. When the water temperature in the ocean is too warm, the corals start to die.

GASSES

Excess carbon dioxide is what is killing coral reefs, by forming an exterior coating on the atmosphere, which is making the global temperature warm up. This global warming is causing an increase in ocean temperatures.

Photo by Raphaël Biscaldi on Unsplash

Sources: Oceanus, BBC, Climate Change, Sciencing, Science Clarified, Wikipedia