Nitrogen and phosphorous are both in the same column in the periodic table. Nitrogen gas is a highly inert gas. When you breathe in the oxygen in the air gets absorbed by your body. However, Nitrogen is not at all absorbed. In the air, it reacts only when lightning happens. The immense heat generated by lightning makes nitrogen burn. This process takes nitrogen to the soil and vegetation can happen.
The Nitrogen strangely undergoes a nuclear process. This happens when cosmic rays hit a nitrogen atom the nitrogen becomes carbon! This is called C14 which decays over years and again becomes nitrogen. This C14 gets absorbed by plants as carbon. Carbon dating has its origin in this process.
Nitrogen is a very critical element of both DNA and proteins. It forms pentagonal structure of atoms. Left alone carbon makes hexagonal structure. Attistically the pentagon-hexagon structure makes the molecules highly interesting.
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