Title: Global Population and the Nitrogen Cycle Author: Vaclav Smil
Notes: - 78% of the atmosphere is Nitrogen.
-Nitrogen is needed for DNA and RNA, the molecules that store and transfer genetic information.
-It is also required to make proteins, those indispensable messengers, receptors, catalysts and structural components of all plant and animal cells
-Humans consume nitrogen through plants.
- Synthetic fertilizers provide about 40 percent of all the nitrogen taken up by crops
-Synthetic ammonia can be created by combining nitrogen and hydrogen.
Summary:
Nitrogen is soooo important in our environment. We use it everyday and essential to life because it is for growth and reproduction in both plants and animals and many other things but nitrogen can't be transferred into humans and animals. Plants can absorb this because of a bacteria called legumes which converts the atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia. For us humans, Nitrogen gives us provides energy to the body for growth and repair. Nitrogen also transmit genetic information.
Reflection: From this article I learned that Nitrogen is a very important for many things. It's in our DNA, RNA, etc and it provides the resources in soil, what this does is help the growth of the plants. Without Nitrogen the world would cease to exist but too much nitrogen is dangerous as well. We can't really stop using Nitrogen because we depend on it too much for food production and if we were to use less of it people will eventually start dying.