Nitrogen

22-04-2025

05:41 AM

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India, the world’s second-largest emitter of N₂O after China, faces climate risks as N₂O has 300 times the global warming potential of CO₂.

About Nitrogen

  • Nitrogen is the most abundant atmospheric gas, constituting ~78% of Earth’s atmosphere.
  • Nitrogen is vital for forming DNA, ATP (cellular energy currency), proteins, chlorophyll, and acts as a neurotransmitter via nitric oxide (NO).

Nitrogen Cycle: Natural Balancing Act

  • Atmospheric nitrogen (N₂) is inert and unusable by plants or animals.
  • Plants rely on diazotrophs (N-fixing bacteria) through symbiotic association (e.g., in legumes).
  • Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia into nitrites (NO₂⁻) and then nitrates (NO₃⁻) – the form plants can absorb.
    • Nitrification: Ammonia → Nitrites → Nitrates (plant-usable form).
  • Denitrification returns excess nitrates back to the atmosphere, maintaining the natural nitrogen cycle.

Haber-Bosch Process

  • Developed in the early 20th century, allowed industrial fixation of nitrogen to produce ammonia.
  • Uses fossil fuels, high heat and pressure, and an iron catalyst.
  • Enabled synthetic fertiliser revolution → contributed to Green Revolution and exponential population growth.

Environmental Risks of Excess Nitrogen (Latent Time-Bomb)

  • Reactive nitrogen (ammonia, nitrate, nitrous oxide) is now overproduced through chemical fertilisers.
  • 80% of applied nitrogen is lost to the environment via leaching and emissions, causing:
    • Eutrophication of water bodies → Algal blooms, Dead Zones (e.g., Gulf of Mexico).
    • Soil acidification and air pollution from NOx emissions.
    • Formation of ground-level ozone and acid rain.
    • N₂O (Nitrous oxide) is now the third most potent greenhouse gas after CO₂ and CH₄.

Nitrogen FAQs

Q1. What is the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere?
Ans. Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, making up about 78% of the air by volume.

Q2. What is the Nitrogen Cycle?
Ans. The Nitrogen Cycle is a biogeochemical process that converts atmospheric nitrogen into forms usable by plants and animals, involving processes like nitrogen fixation, nitrification, assimilation, ammonification, and denitrification.

Q3. Name an example of nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Ans. Rhizobium is a well-known nitrogen-fixing bacterium that lives symbiotically in the root nodules of leguminous plants.

Source: TH