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Nitrogen. By Sean Callahan. About the Element. Atomic Number-7 Atomic Symbol-N Atomic Weight-14.00674 Electron Configuration-[He]2s 2 2p 3 Atomic Radius-71 pm Melting Point-(-210.0 ?c) Boiling Point-(-195.79 ?c) Oxidation Status-(-3),5 It is about 78% of the gas in our atmosphere.
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Nitrogen By Sean Callahan
About the Element • Atomic Number-7 • Atomic Symbol-N • Atomic Weight-14.00674 • Electron Configuration-[He]2s22p3 • Atomic Radius-71 pm • Melting Point-(-210.0 ?c) • Boiling Point-(-195.79 ?c) • Oxidation Status-(-3),5 • It is about 78% of the gas in our atmosphere
How Nitrogen was Found • Nitrogen was discovered by a chemist/ physician named Daniel Rutherford in 1772 • Removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from the air and showed that the residual gas would not support combustion or living organisms, this is what Rutherford did
Nitrogen Cycle 5 main processes of Nitrogen Cycle
1) Nitrogen Fixation N2 NH4+ • Nitrogen fixation is the process wherein N2 is converted to ammonium, essential because it is the only way that organisms can attain nitrogen directly from the atmosphere • Nitrogen fixing bacteria often form symbiotic relationships with host plants • Free- living nitrogen fixers also nitrogen fixing bacteria that exist without plant hosts • High-energy natural events such as lightning, forest fires, and even hot lava flows can cause the fixation of smaller, but significant amounts of nitrogen
2) Nitrogen Uptake NH4+ Organic N • Ammonia produced by nitrogen fixing bacteria is usually quickly incorporated into protein and other organic nitrogen compounds • When organisms closer at the top of the food chain (like us) eat, we are using nitrogen that has been fixed initially by nitrogen fixing bacteria
3) Nitrogen Mineralization Organic N NH4+ • After nitrogen is incorporated into organic matter, it is often converted back into inorganic nitrogen by a process called nitrogen mineralization or decay • Decomposers come to eat away all the matter from the dead organism • After this is done the rest turns into ammonium • From then, nitrogen is available for use by plants or for further transformation into nitrate (NO3-) through the process called nitrification
4) Nitrification NH4+ NO3- • Ammonium produced by decomposition turns into nitrate through nitrification • Nitrification requires the presence of oxygen • This process has important consequences like: positive charge prevents ammonium nitrogen from being washed out of the soil (or leached) by rainfall
5) Dentrification NO3- N2+ N2O • Dentrification allows oxidized forms of nitrogen such as nitrate and nitrite (NO2-) are converted to dinitrogen (N2) and, to a lesser extent, nitrous oxide gas • This process basically carries out bacteria by denitrifying it • NO3- NO2- NO N2O N2 this is the sequence which changes nitrate to dinitrogen • If converted to dinitrogen, then it is highly doubtful that it will be reconverted to a biologically form because it is a gas and is rapidly lost to the atmosphere
Nitrogen BY Sean Callahan