Back Stikstofvaslegging AF تثبيت النيتروجين Arabic নাইট্রোজেন সংবদ্ধকরণ Bengali/Bangla Fiksacija dušika BS Fixació del nitrogen Catalan Fixace dusíku Czech Kvælstoffiksering Danish Stickstofffixierung German Nitrogen fixation English Nitrogena fiksado EO
Nitrogen fixation is how nitrogen in the air (N2) is changed (converted) into ammonia (NH
3) or other nitrogenous compounds in the soil.
Nitrogen fixation is essential to life because nitrogen compounds are needed for making all nitrogen-containing organic compounds, such as amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
Atmospheric nitrogen is a relatively unreactive molecule. It is useless to all except a few bacteria and archaea. Biological nitrogen fixation converts N
2 into ammonia, which is used (metabolized) by most organisms.
Nitrogen is fixed in biological and non-biological ways: