What is nitrogen? Detailed answer

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What is nitrogen? Detailed answer

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What is nitrogen?

All living beings need nitrogen, because it plays an important role in the body of plants, humans and animals. Nitrogen is part of the proteins that are the building material for the human body. Without these substances, no one can grow, heal wounds, and replace dying tissue. The air we breathe contains 78 percent nitrogen, and there are about 12 tons of nitrogen for every square kilometer of the Earth's surface.

Nitrogen is a colorless, tasteless, or odorless gas. It is only slightly soluble in water. At very low temperature or high pressure, it turns into a liquid. Under normal atmospheric pressure, nitrogen becomes liquid at -210 °C. It would seem that with the presence of such an amount of nitrogen in the air, living beings should not have a problem with obtaining it.

However, in reality, in nature, only plants from the legume family are able to absorb nitrogen from the air. All other living organisms, including humans, cannot absorb pure nitrogen. To get the necessary nitrogen, people eat protein foods made from certain types of plants or herbivores. When we breathe, we inhale the nitrogen contained in the air. But nitrogen, unlike oxygen, is not absorbed by our lungs at all, and we simply exhale it back.

However, the presence of nitrogen in the atmosphere helps us not to absorb too much oxygen. An excess of the latter is no less dangerous than its deficiency. As for other living beings, they also receive nitrogen in the form of compounds with other elements: plants - from the soil, animals - from plants or from other animals.

Nitrogen interacts with other elements with great difficulty. For example, it reacts with oxygen in nature only during lightning flashes during thunderstorms, which create exceptionally high temperatures.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why are harsh laws or measures sometimes called draconian?

In 621 BC, the Athenian statesman Drakon (Dragon) drew up a code of laws that limited the arbitrariness of the tribal aristocracy (its right to blood feud was abolished, punitive functions were transferred to the Areopagus) and court sentences. However, these same laws provided for severe penalties for infringement on private property (for example, the death penalty for stealing grain and vegetables).

The Draconian laws were softened by Solon in 594 BC, but their exorbitant cruelty remained in the memory of the Greeks for a long time, and the expressions "draconian measures" and "draconian laws" remained in proverbs to this day (and not only in the Greek language).

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Happiness from altruism is short-lived 18.03.2020

It is believed that altruism makes us happy, and there are a number of psychological studies in support of this. For example, if a person often helps someone, his mood improves, and when stressed, there is less emotional "negativity". Altruistic acts are also said to lower blood pressure and are generally good for health.

However, employees of the University of Bonn and Harvard University believe that happiness from altruism is not so simple: the initial "pluses" from it can turn into "minuses". The researchers invited about three hundred students to participate in two lotteries: one had a good chance of winning 100 euros, the other you did not win anything, but you could donate 350 euros to a fund for helping patients with tuberculosis. The participants in the experiment were free to choose which lottery they wanted to play, and the money in both of them was quite real. About 60% chose the second, altruistic, lottery, in which the money went to charity.

All participants in the lotteries filled out psychological questionnaires showing the level of happiness. Immediately after the lottery, as expected, those who chose the altruistic option were happier. However, the same psychological survey was conducted a month later - and now, after a month, the majority of those who played the altruistic lottery were less happy than those who chose money for themselves. That is, happiness from an altruistic act turned out to be short-lived and in the long run turned into a decrease in mood. Of course, anything could happen to a person in a month, but let's not forget that more than one or even ten people participated in the experiment, and the authors of the work probably took into account the likelihood of some everyday troubles that could happen to students.

The most curious thing happened to a small group of participants in the experiment who did not have to play the lottery: they chose the second, altruistic option, but they were told that the lottery was canceled and they were just given one hundred euros. An article in PNAS says that these people were happier than everyone else after a month. That is, for real happiness, it would be good if the altruistic impulse was reinforced by a reward.

It is possible that other types of altruism provide more stable happiness. After all, you can not only distribute money, you can help others yourself - help the elderly with disabilities, entertain orphans, etc. And it is possible that the altruism that involves direct social contacts will be more long-lasting.

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