The Importance Of Molecules

There are a number of elements within the universe such as hydrogen, helium, oxygen and carbon which is the fourth most abundant element. Carbon can be regarded as one of the most important elements in the universe due to the fact that it is regarded as the definition of life. Molecules that consist of carbon are chemically defined as “organic” whereas molecules that do not consist of carbon are regarded as “inorganic”. All organisms on earth including humans need carbon for energy and growth or even for body structure and support. Together with water, organisms are mainly made up of carbon. Another reason for the importance carbon is its diversity. Carbon is extremely diverse as it can be found in numerous forms such as the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), coal, diamonds, calcium-carbonate or limestone, wood and plastic. The movement or cycle of carbon in its different forms or states across the atmosphere, oceans, biosphere and geosphere is known as the carbon cycle.

OER’s can include textbooks, course readings, and other learning content; games, and other learning ap¬plications; syllabi, quizzes, and assessment tools; and virtually any other material that can be used for academic purposes. The main characteristic of OER’s is that it does not have restrictions around the copying of resources. OER’s provide an alternative to the rising costs of education which is beneficial in South Africa especially, where poverty is a serious issue. Another benefit is that the scope and availability of OER is ever expanding as new resources are constantly being added to the global body of resource which helps students to retrieve information from a sea of “open source” information instead of accessing costly