Where Is The Largest Reservoir Of Nitrogen And Why Is It Not Usable In That Form?

The largest reservoir of nitrogen is in the Earth’s atmosphere, where it makes up 78% of the air by volume. However, this nitrogen is not usable in that form because it is a gas at atmospheric pressure and temperature. In order to use nitrogen for agricultural or industrial purposes, it must be “fixed” into a more usable form such as ammonia (NH3) or nitrate (NO3-). This process can be done chemically or biologically, but most commercial fertilizer is produced via the Haber-Bosch process, which uses high temperatures and pressures to combine nitrogen and hydrogen gases to produce ammonia.