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Nitrogen Cycle

78% Nitrogen gas in the atmosphere
Nitrogen is needed for making proteins for growth
- Plants get nitrogen from the soil
1. - Animals get nitrogen by eating plants
Nitrogen Fixation is the process of turning N2 from the air into Nitrogen compounds that plants can use
Decomposers - break down protein
1. Nitrifying Bacteria - turns ammonia into nitrates in decaying matter
  1. Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria - turn atmospheric N2 into nitrogen compounds that plants use
    1. Denitrifying Bacteria - turns nitrates back into N2 gas. no benefit to living organisms.
There's so much energy in a lightning bolt that it's enough to make nitrogen react with oxygen in the ait to give nitrates
Nitrogen, just like carbon, is being constantly recycled. So the nitrogen in your proteins might once have been in the air. And before that it might have been in a plant. And before that some horse wee. Nice.

Nitrogen Cycle

	Created by James Reston about 9 years ago