Question

Nitrogen cycle in nature and define all the terms involved in it.

Answer 1

Hint: Nitrogen is crucial to the ecosystem, which is the most abundant element in our atmosphere. Balanced nitrogen content is essential for growth and ecosystem wellbeing. Therefore it is necessary to provide a solution for this basic understanding of the Nitrogen cycle.

Complete Answer:
The nitrogen cycle is a repetitive cycle of processes during which nitrogen moves through both living and nonliving things. In the nitrogen cycle there are five steps, nitrogen moves from the atmosphere to the soil in the first step. Earth's atmosphere is high in nitrogen gas( $N_2$). But plants can not use that nitrogen without undergoing a transformation. Therefore the $N_2$ must be converted through a process called nitrogen fixation in order to be used. The second step takes place in the soil. Nitrogen moves from organic materials, such as manure or plant materials, to an inorganic nitrogen form that can be used by plants. In the end, nutrients from the plant are used up and the plant dies and decomposes. This becomes important in the second step of the nitrogen cycle.The third step, nitrification, is also happening in soils. The ammonia in the soils produced during mineralisation when nitrification. Plants and animals that utilise the plants can use nitrates. Some bacteria in the soil can transform ammonia into nitrites. Immobilization is the fourth step of the nitrogen cycle, rarely described as the reverse of mineralisation. Together these two processes control the amount of nitrogen in soils.Just like plants, soil-dwelling microorganisms need nitrogen as an energy source. Therefore, immobilisation ties nitrogen in microorganisms which helps to control and balance the amount of nitrogen in the soils. In the fifth step of the nitrogen cycle, nitrogen turns to air as nitrates are converted by bacteria into atmospheric nitrogen ( $N_2$) through the denitrification process. As the gaseous form of nitrogen moves into the atmosphere and the cycle continues, this results in a general loss of nitrogen from soils.

Note:Nitrogen is an essential nutrient in plants. However, plants or animals can not directly utilise the abundant nitrogen in the atmosphere.