Why is air almost 80% nitrogen? Where does it all come from and do any life forms use it?
In: 7
Yes, particularly bacteria.
Look up something called ‘the nitrogen cycle’.
Many plants and bacteria use nitrogen attached to other elements, like NO2. Fertiliser is full of nitrogen compounds. But we need a bacteria to take it from the stuff in the air just floating around by itself (N2), most plants can’t access that. These bacteria live in the soil, and some particularly on the roots of plants. and turn it to other forms that can be used by some plants.
When that plant matter dies, it produces ammonia (NH3), which with water becomes ammonium (NH4) which other plants and bacteria can use.
From this, some bacteria will use it and produce nitrates (NO3), which is then used by other bacteria to produce nitrites (NO2)…
This is all very important for aquariums. We need to set up the cycle properly because too much of any of these is very dangerous for fish, but a new tank doesn’t have enough of all the bacteria you need. Ammonia and nitrates in particular are dangerous. So you set it up and You wait for the amminia to spike, and then there’s a burst of activity as the bacteria that convert it to nitrates bloom. But that then produces a spike of nitrates which are also bad, so you wait for the bacteria that convert it to nitrites..
It’s a complex process with many steps, and you can find many explanations and more detail looking up ‘nitrogen cycle’
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