Nitrogen Cycle · The Living World

NITROGEN CYCLE SIMULATION

Plants live immersed in nitrogen and still go hungry for it: N₂ makes up 78% of the air, but the N≡N triple bond is so strong that almost nothing can touch it. Only bacteria carrying nitrogenase, lightning strikes and the Haber-Bosch reactor can prise it open. Step by step around the loop the ammonium and nitrate pools rise and fall: over-fertilising flushes nitrate into the water and triggers eutrophication, while denitrification sends N₂ back to the sky along with some N₂O, a potent greenhouse gas.

▸ Building the land–sky landscape…

▸ Loading the N₂ atmosphere (N≡N triple bond)

▸ Seeding nitrogen-fixing bacteria into root nodules

▸ Linking the flow: fixation → nitrification → assimilation

▸ Starting ammonification & denitrification…

▸ Ready — Online. ✅

Nitrogen reservoirs

🟦 Reservoirs & fluxes

Atmospheric N₂—

NH₄⁺ ammonium—

NO₃⁻ nitrate—

Organic nitrogen—

Fixation rate—

Viewing—

Note

Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air, but its N₂ form has a very strong N≡N triple bond — most organisms cannot use it. Bacteria are the "workers" that convert N₂ into nitrogen plants can absorb, then close the loop and return it to the air.

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Pick a "Scenario" (emphasize fixation / nitrification / denitrification / over-fertilize…) · click a stage or concept for details

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Soil nitrogen forms over time NH₄⁺NO₃⁻organic

About Nitrogen Cycle