Creation Moment 9/23/2018 - P (#15)

"Phosphorus, abbreviated P with atomic number 15, is an essential element in all living organisms. How do organisms use phosphorus?

• Phosphorus is an essential element in nucleic acids (DNA, RNA).
  
• The energy molecule ATP has three phosphate groups. A cell spends enormous effort recycling ATP.
• Phosphorylation is an important regulatory step in many cell processes.
• Cell membranes are composed of phospholipids.
• Bones and tooth enamel get their hardness from hydroxyapatite, a phosphorus-containing mineral.
• Phosphorus is taken up by plants from the soil. Its availability can be a limiting factor in ecosystems.
• Lack of phosphorus can cause malnutrition.

“Oxidative phosphorylation” builds ATP in cells. A chain of complex molecular machines in mitochondria and chloroplasts sets up a proton gradient by carefully extracting electrons from the digestion of our food and passing them through a sequence of reactions (the citric acid cycle), with oxygen as the final acceptor in the electron transport chain. The resulting proton gradient then powers ATP synthase, a rotary engine, that uses the energy to “snap” phosphate groups onto ADP in three reaction centers.


It would be hard to imagine a habitable planet without phosphorus, because most astrobiologists recognize the uniqueness of nucleic acids, ATP and phospholipids for cells.
So this poses a question: how did Earth become blessed with so much of this

The phosphorus cycle in a typical cropping system
is particularly complex, ... movement through the soil

element? 

Maybe we need to add another zone to our list of habitable zones: the “Phosphorus Availability Zone.” But this is only a problem for materialists. The Creator tells us in His word that He “made the world to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18)." CEH