Nitrogen

Nitrogen and its Relation to Plants:
A substance which plays an important part in animal and plant life is nitrogen. Soil and the fertilizers which enrich it, the plants which grow on it, and the animals which feed on these, all contain nitrogen or nitrogenous compounds. The atmosphere, which we ordinarily think of as a storehouse of oxygen, contains far more nitrogen than oxygen, since four fifths of its whole weight is made up of this element.

Nitrogen is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Air is composed chiefly of oxygen and nitrogen; if, therefore, the oxygen in a vessel filled with air can be made to unite with some other substance or can be removed, there will be a residue of nitrogen. This can be done by floating on water a light dish containing phosphorus, then igniting the phosphorus, and placing an inverted jar over the burning substance. The phosphorus in burning unites with the oxygen of the air and hence the gas that remains in the jar is chiefly nitrogen. It has the characteristics mentioned above and, in addition, does not combine readily with other substances.