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AMMONIA. IN THE NITROGEN CYCLE. Stephanie Lopez. What is Ammonium Nitrate ?. Colorless gas, strong stench ammonia is a toxic waste-product, coming from anything that has been decomposed. Most ammonia made goes into fertilizers ( ammonium nitrate ) And many war bombs.
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AMMONIA IN THE NITROGEN CYCLE Stephanie Lopez
What is Ammonium Nitrate ? • Colorless gas, strong stench • ammonia is a toxic waste-product, coming from anything that has been decomposed. • Most ammonia made goes into fertilizers (ammonium nitrate) • And many war bombs
bacteria to produce ammonia • ammonia is essential in fertilizer, plants can absorb it freely and combine ammonia with their own amino acids. • by nitrogen fixation; when nitrogen (N2) in the air is converted into ammonium (NH4) for the plants. • a natural cycle known as “Biological nitrogen fixation.” • Nitrogen is usually made when an organism (animal or plant) dies and decomposes in the atmosphere and ground, where it is later absorbed by plants.
VS. industrial process • “Industrial nitrogen fixation” is when we as humans have made our own ammonium nitrate. • Our most common method, The Haber Process: pulling nitrogen out of the air and placing it in to our fertilizers • It also requires a great amount of natural gas. • because of the fast growing human population we use “synthetic nitrogen fertilizers” made in factories. (Ammonium Nitrate) These fertilizers are to help grow plants and crops on a large scale. • This process was discovered by the German chemists Fritz Haber • the price of natural gas, which tracks the price of oil very closely, was once low. Now, with oil over $120 a barrel, natural gas prices have doubled • the cost of ammonia has tripled.
A possible alternative? • Ammonium nitrate is commonly used to make powerful bombs • Kevin Flemingused iron sulfate, a compound that steel foundries throw away, can be mixed with ammonium nitrate • the iron ion “grabs” the nitrate and the ammonium ion takes the sulfate ion. • Iron sulfate becomes iron nitrate and ammonium nitrate becomes ammonium sulfate. • takes alkaline soil and makes it neutral, closer to an ideal pH level
Sites Credited http://peakenergy.blogspot.com/2008/05/getting-cheaper-nitrogen-fix.html http://jb.asm.org/content/19/3/223.full.pdf http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514046/fertilizer-you-cant-make-bombs-out-of/ https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/ied_fertilizer/#.UuhUg9Ln_s0