Nitrogen Cycle 

Terms

• Ammonification - when a plant or animal decays and Nitrogen is released back into the soil
• Denitrification - when soil nitrate is converted to N2O and N2 gases
• Nitrification - when amonia oxizes to nitrate and nitrite
• Nitrogen Fixation - when N2 combines chemically to create amonia and nitrates and nitrites

Function

• nitrogen is the most common gas (78%)
• Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants, but they can’t access it before the Nitrogen compound has undergone nitrogen fixation
• N2 is very stable and non reactive - unusable to plants and animals
• Bacteria in soil takes N2 in atmosphere and create amonia (plants can use this)
• Animals eat plants to receive Nitrogen
• Lightning can break the N2 bonds to have them attach to O2 and make Nitrogen Oxide

Anthropogenic Factors

• Nitrogen based fertilizers (because of runoff into water causing algae blooms)
• Pollution releases nitric oxide into atmosphere