10.4.1

Plants and Nitrogen

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Plants and Nitrogen

Plants provide humans with a crucial food source and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (using photosynthesis). In order to grow, plants need to make proteins, and this requires nitrogen.

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Plants can't absorb nitrogen gas

  • Although nitrogen gas is abundant in the atmosphere (there is lots of it), plants cannot use nitrogen in the air.
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Plants absorb nitrates

  • Instead, plants absorb soluble nitrates (nitrogen-containing compounds) from the soil.
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Harvesting crops removes nitrogen

  • Nitrates re-enter the soil when plants die.
  • But, harvesting crops takes this nitrogen out of the system.
  • So, farmers should manually add nitrogen back into the soil.

Jump to other topics

1Atomic Structure

2Chemical Bonding

3Quantitative Chemistry

4Chemical Changes

5Energy Changes

6The Rate & Extent of Chemical Change

7Organic Chemistry

8Chemical Analysis

9Chemistry of the Atmosphere

10Using Resources

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