EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Nitrate is the form of nitrogen most used by plants for growth and development.

Detailed explanation-2: -Compounds such as nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and ammonium can be taken up from soils by plants and then used in the formation of plant and animal proteins.

Detailed explanation-3: -Organic Nitrogen Compounds They include, for example, amines, amides, alkyl nitrates, nitrosamines, nitroarenes, and peroxyacyl nitrates. This later category includes the important compound peroxyacetyl nitrate or PAN, which is a lung and eye irritant formed in photochemical smog.

Detailed explanation-4: -Plants absorb nitrogen from the soil as both NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ ions, but because nitrification is so pervasive in agricultural soils, most of the nitrogen is taken up as nitrate. Nitrate moves freely toward plant roots as they absorb water.

Detailed explanation-5: -Plants and other producers use nitrogen to synthesize nitrogen-containing organic compounds. These include chlorophyll, proteins, and nucleic acids. Other organisms that consume producers make use of the nitrogen in these organic compounds.