Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
What is nitrogen?
Periodic Table Nitrogen is in the
Nonmetals/BCNO Group
•
Where is nitrogen found in
the environment?
The largest single source of nitrogen is in the atmosphere.
N N
Atmospheric nitrogen is converted
to ammonia or nitrates.
N
N
Atmospheric
Nitrogen (N2)
N N
Why does N
atmospheric nitrogen N
need to be
converted?
N N
It is one of nature’s
great ironies…
Nitrogen is an essential
component of DNA, RNA,
and proteins--the building
blocks of life.
Although the majority of the
air we breathe is nitrogen,
most living organisms are
unable to use nitrogen as it
exists in the atmosphere!
How does
atmospheric N
N
nitrogen get
changed into a
form that can be
used by most
living organisms?
By traveling through one of the four
processes in the Nitrogen Cycle!
Nitrogen
Cycle
Nitrogen
Cycle
What is N
N
“nitrogen fixation”
and
what does it mean
to say
nitrogen gets
“fixed”?
“Nitrogen Fixation” is the process that causes the strong
two-atom nitrogen molecules found in the atmosphere to
break apart so they can combine with other atoms.
N
Oxygen Hydrogen N
Hydrogen
N
N
N Oxygen N
Bacteria
Lightning “fixes” Nitrogen!
Atmospheric Fixation
(Only 5 to 8% of the Fixation
Process)
The enormous energy of N
N O
lightning breaks nitrogen Nitrogen
molecules apart and enables combines
with Oxygen
the nitrogen atoms to combine
with oxygen forming nitrogen Nitrogen oxides forms
oxides (N2O). Nitrogen oxides (N2O) Nitrogen
dissolve in rain, forming (NO3) oxides dissolve
in rain and
nitrates. Nitrates (NO3) are change to
carried to the ground with the nitrates
N H3
Free-living bacteria live
in soil and combine
atmospheric nitrogen
with hydrogen
(NH3)
Nitrogen changes
into ammonia
Bacteria
Legume plants
Symbiotic Relationship
Bacteria
Bacteria live in the roots
of legume family plants N
and provide the plants
with ammonia (NH3) in
exchange for the plant’s NH3
carbon and a protected
home. N
(2) Ammonification
Ammonium (NH4) is
stored in soil.
What happens to
ammonium (NH4) stored
in the soil?
It travels through the
third process
of the nitrogen cycle called
Nitrification!
Nitrates (NO3)
in Soil
How does the
denitrification
process work?
Nitrates in soil
Denitrifying bacteria live deep in soil and in aquatic
sediments where conditions make it difficult for them to
get oxygen. The denitrifying bacteria use nitrates as an
alternative to oxygen, leaving free nitrogen gas as a
byproduct. They close the nitrogen cycle!
Nitrogen in atmosphere
closes the nitrogen cycle!
(N2)
(NO3)
N2 O
(4) Denitrification (1) Nitrogen Fixation
(c)
Nitrogen
Cycle
(3) Nitrification (2) Ammonification
NO3
NH3
Ammonia is converted Organic nitrogen is
to nitrites and nitrates. Nitrates in Soil converted to ammonium.