Thursday, January 11, 2007

The use of nitrogen by plants

As we have discussed in class, plants need nitrogen. After oxygen and carbon, which are freely available in the environment, nitrogen is the nutrient used most by plants. Plants need nitrogen to build up their protein and DNA. It also helps plants to grow rapidly and increase their seed and fruit production. That is why nitrogen is added in many fertilizers.




(Can you see the words urea and potassium nitrate on the packaging of these fertilizers? They are various forms of nitrogen.)


Some plants, called legumes, have a kind of bacteria living in their roots. These bacteria are able to change nitrogen in the air into a form that can be taken up by plants. Examples of legumes are clovers, alfalfa, peas and soybeans.



Alfafa sprouts











clovers









Peas



Soybeans



In fact, all living things (including you and me) need nitrogen. Nitrogen is needed for the construction of protein. Living things need protein for their structure and functions. In other words, without nitrogen organisms will not survive.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does it help us????

Anonymous said...

Hello Miss Lee,

Your blog is very nice. Is green your favourite colour??I hope you will keep up with your good work


From Glenn

misslee said...

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the encouragement! :) Green is not really my favourite colour but I thought it looked nice on the blog. I will continue posting if you and your classmates enjoy it. Please keep your comments coming, class! you need not comment on the blog itself, you can also talk about what you know about the topic I have posted. Do share with all of us here your knowledge. Miss Lee is also learning in the process!

misslee said...

Dear anonymous,
please remember to leave your name so we'll know who has made the comment. What do you mean by "How does it help us?" What do you mean by "it"? Do you mean how does nitrogen help us?

Anonymous said...

Do you mean we breathe in nitrogen? Yucky!

Anonymous said...

Miss Lee,


I am anonymous




From Glenn

Anonymous said...

How does nitrogen help us??

misslee said...

That are good questions from Glenn and Sun Yi. Keep the questions coming!
Anyone can answer them?
Lets make it a discussion rather than me keep providing you with the answers?
So what do you think?
1. How does nitrogen help us?
2. Do we breathe in nitrogen?
Try to find out on your own from the internet or from books.

Anonymous said...

The answer is yes.The air we breathe is a mixture of gases including nitrogen, oxygen, water, argon, carbon dioxide and trace gases. Each day we inhale around 14,000 litres (14 m3) of air as we take about 26,000 breaths (that's equivalent to about 150 full bathtubs). If this air contains pollutants, we inhale them into our bodies and they can affect our health. So to protect people's health and the environment, we need to keep the air clean and free from pollution.

Anonymous said...

How do the bacteria change the nitrogen in the air into a form that can be taken up by plants?

Anonymous said...

means we breath in almost the air?

misslee said...

Thank you Jarran for sharing what he has found. Hope more people will start to contribute their knowledge.

We'll inhale everything in the air including nitrogen, rare gases and even dust particles. Some dust particles can be trapped by our nostril hairs and the mucus in our nose (yes, that is what they are for). However, our lungs only "select" what is needed for our body i.e. oxygen. We exhale out all the other gases that we do not need, including nitrogen.

We do inhale nitrogen but it is in a form that our body cannot absorb, it gets exhaled out. Then where do we get the forms of nitrogen that we need to make our cells?

Do recall that plants take in various forms of nitrogen from the soil (or from fertilizers). This is use to manufacture their plant cells. Animals then feed on these plants. The usable form of nitrogen gets passed from the plants to animals and animals then use it to manufacture their cells. That is how nitrogen gets passed along the food chain. We humans get our nitrogen from plants and animals we consume.

misslee said...

Thank you Shin Yi for your question. Maybe someone here has the answer and would like to share it with us?

Anonymous said...

Is it true that light bulbs is filled with nitrogen

misslee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
misslee said...

Dear Anonymous,
Do let us know who you are.
What do the rest think. I cannot always be the one who provide you with answers, you must go find out for yourself! :) Do share with us what you have found out.

Anonymous said...

finally i found that light bulbs is filled with nitrogen....

Anonymous said...

http://www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au/Marine_Discovery/photos/5.jpg


Misslee, this is a picture i found.It is moulting!!!

Anonymous said...

Does Coca cola consists of a bit of carbon dioxide???

Anonymous said...

http://www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au/Marine_Discovery/photos/7.jpg

misslee, this is Port Jackson Shark embryo.

Anonymous said...

cool tings man!

Anonymous said...

Heidisays:

Miss Lee, why is it when I see a clover, it always only have three leaves, not four?
Star

Anonymous said...

4 - leaf clovers are lucky,right?Maybe thats why.