Distinguish between abiological and biological nitrogen fixation.
Answers
Biological nitrogen Fixation or BNF is a natural process where the free atmospheric nitrogen is reduced to ammonia in the presence of an enzyme called Nitrogenase. This enzyme acts as a bio-catalyst which is naturally found in bacteria’s like Azotobacter, that helps in the fixation of nitrogen in the environment.
Abiological fixation of nitrogen differs from biological fixation where nitrogen is reduced to ammonia without the involvement of any bio-catalyst or bacteria’s. This fixation occurs either naturally or through industries. A strong bolt of thunderstorm may also spontaneously fix nitrogen in the environment. This sort of fixation is categorized as Abiological fixation.
With the process of nitrogen fixation, the ammonia content (NH3) of the earth is balanced.
They can be done through natural (atmospheric fixation), biological nitrogen fixation or industrial fixation.
In biological fixation, some plants absorb the nitrogen through their tissues and convert them to ammonia.
In non-biological fixation such as industrial fixation, nitrogen and hydrogen are industrially compacted to give ammonia.