It was known during the 18th century that air contains at least two gases, one of which supports combustion and life, and the other of which does not. Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air. The element seemed so inert that Lavoisier named it azote, meaning "without life". NITROGEN
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The element seemed so inert that Lavoisier named it azote, meaning "without life".
nitrogen. It was known during the 18th century that air contains at least two gases, one of which supports combustion and life, and the other of which does not. Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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It was known during the 18th century that air contains at least two gases, one of which supports combustion and life, and the other of which does not. Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air.
The element seemed so inert that Lavoisier named it azote, meaning "without life".
NITROGEN
The Atmosphere
78% N2
21% O2
~0.0396% CO2
The Paradox that is Nitrogen• N is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, yet N is the most commonly limiting plant
nutrient on the planet!• N is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, yet human N additions are a concern due to:
• acid rain• eutrophication of water and watersheds
– US EPA Drinking Water criterion for NO3-N
• tropospheric ozone• nitrogen aerosols.
• N additions to most forests will increase growth (as can climate warming and rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations!).
• For most terrestrial plant communities only inorganic N is available (e.g., NH4+ and NO3
-). And while there are thousands of soil organisms that can convert organic-N to NH4
+, most are sensitive creatures (e.g., pH, moisture) and very few can nitrify NH4
+ to NO3- (the favored
form for most crops).• The majority of the N deposited on forested watersheds is retained in the watershed, even in
N saturated forests.
The Nitrogen ParadoxCliffs Notes Version
Although there are huge pools of N in the atmosphere as a gas, in soil as organic matter, and in rocks, nearly all of that is unavailable and most biological systems remain N deficient (except in highly polluted areas). Therefore, the introduction of even small amounts of reactive N (i.e., Nr) have a disproportionately large impact on ecosystem function and ecosystem services to society.
Valclav Smil, Nature 1999
July 1909 Haber-Bosch Discovery
Haber-Bosch Process and Reactive Nitrogen
H.H. Janzen 2004
The discovery of the process to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH4
+) by Haber, which was then industrialized by Bosch (an engineer for BASF in Germany), sparked an agricultural revolution that can take credit for the existence of approximately 2 of every 5 humans on the planet today.
EPA-SAB-11-013 August 2011 www.epa.gov/sab
…and gave us the means to produce ≈43% of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the US today.