Nitrogen Cycle

Also called

nitrogen fixation · Rhizobium · root nodules · legumes · nitrification · denitrification · ammonification · nitrates · nitrogen-fixing bacteria · lightning fixes nitrogen · proteins from nitrogen · decomposers · biogeochemical cycle · नाइट्रोजन चक्र · नाइट्रोजन स्थिरीकरण · राइज़ोबियम

Topics

• About 78% of the air is nitrogen gas, N₂, but plants and animals cannot use it directly.
• Nitrogen fixation turns N₂ into usable compounds such as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
• Lightning makes nitrogen oxides in the air, which dissolve in rain and reach the soil as nitrates.
• Rhizobium bacteria in the root nodules of legumes such as peas, beans and gram fix N₂ into ammonia.
• Plants take up nitrates through their roots and build them into proteins, chlorophyll and DNA.
• Animals get their nitrogen by eating plants or other animals.
• Decomposers turn dead matter, dung and urine into ammonia; nitrifying bacteria change it to nitrites and nitrates.
• Denitrifying bacteria in waterlogged soil turn nitrates back into N₂ gas, which returns to the air.
• Growing legumes puts nitrogen into the soil, which is why farmers rotate crops with them.

About this model

A GLB file of about 301 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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