Minerals in Plants (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Biology): Revision Note

Minerals in plants

• Photosynthesis produces carbohydrates (opens in a new tab), but plants contain many other types of biological molecule; such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acid (DNA)

• As plants do not eat, they need to make these substances themselves

• Carbohydrates contain the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen but proteins, for example, contain nitrogen as well (and certain amino acids contain other elements too)

• Other chemicals in plants contain different elements as well, for example chlorophyll contains magnesium and nitrogen

• This means that without a source of these elements, plants cannot photosynthesise or grow properly

• Plants obtain these elements in the form of mineral ions actively absorbed from the soil by root hair cells

• ‘Mineral’ is a term used to describe any naturally occurring inorganic substance

Mineral deficiencies table