I understand my ammonia is toxic to fish, ammonia is toxic to a lot of living things, but what makes nitrite and nitrate so different? The only thing separating them is one oxygen atom.
In: Chemistry
That one oxygen atom changes the shape, structure, and function.
For example Nitrates are used in many fertilizers and explosives. Nitrites are used in food preservation.
Nitrates form strong acids and nitrates form weaker acids.
That one extra oxygen atom in Nitrates makes a huge difference.
Kinda of an add on to [Fourtires3rims](https://www.reddit.com/user/Fourtires3rims/):
CO2 is not toxic but CO is toxic. Though there is only one oxygen missing. Well that oxygen changes the shape of the compound and/or its behavior.
SCN is not toxic but CN is why because of the shape. Its shape allows to bond to protein (forgot, sorry) in ETC and thus does not allow your cell to use O2.
The same applies to NO2 and NO3 also another thing to note is that the charge on NO2 is 2- and NO3 is 3- and this charge difference changes what each of anions bond to.
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