CHEM 110 Lecture 6: CHEM OF FOOD NOTES- MIDTERM 2

• School: McGill University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM 110
• Professor: Joe Schwarcz

Document Summary

Without it there would be no life. Plants take up carbon dioxide and water and produce oxygen. Important because we live on plants- directly and indirectly. 70% of world used to be involved in some way. Today: 2% supplies all the food for the rest of us. As time passed developments were instituted and agriculture got better and population grew. Technology now is much better; fertilizers, pesticides etc. Hopefully these small amounts of chemicals aren"t large enough to harm humans. By 2050 there will be 10 billion people around and we will have to feed them. We are having a tough time right now, so we need fertilizers and pesticides to produce enough food. It would be great if it could all be organic. Organic: no synthetic chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides) natural control of insects. It is possible on small scale, but very difficult on large scales.