nitrogen

«nitrogen» in Mova's school dictionary: A gas with no colour, no smell and no taste that makes up… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (nitrogen — uncountable; symbol N)

meaning for a pupil

A gas with no colour, no smell and no taste that makes up about 78% (nearly four fifths) of the air around us. It is a chemical element with the symbol N. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, the air is mostly nitrogen (about 78%) and oxygen (about 21%), with small amounts of other gases like carbon dioxide and argon. We breathe nitrogen in and out without using it. Plants need nitrogen to grow, but they get it from the soil (nitrates), helped by bacteria and fertilisers, not straight from the air. Liquid nitrogen is extremely cold (about −196 °C) and can freeze things instantly — only scientists handle it. Phrases: "nitrogen gas", "liquid nitrogen", "nitrogen cycle", "nitrogen in the air".

examples

• Most of the air we breathe is nitrogen. tree →
• About 78 out of every 100 parts of air are nitrogen. tree →
• Plants need nitrogen to grow green leaves. tree →
• The scientist froze a flower in liquid nitrogen. tree →
• Nitrogen has the chemical symbol N. tree →
• Fertilisers give plants extra nitrogen. tree →
• Crisp packets are filled with nitrogen to keep crisps fresh. tree →
• Nitrogen has no colour and no smell. tree →

note

Uncountable: "nitrogen", not "a nitrogen". Myth: the air is mostly oxygen — it is not; it is mostly nitrogen. In maths, 78% of air is nitrogen means in 100 litres of air, about 78 litres are nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is dangerous: it can cause frostbite-like burns.

In the corpora

• Soil gives plants water, grip for their roots and minerals such as nitrogen; without minerals plants grow small and yellow.
• Only about one fifth of the air is oxygen; most of the rest is nitrogen, which we breathe in and out unchanged.
• Nitrogen hardly reacts, so crisp packets are filled with it to keep the crisps fresh.
• Farmers add nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to soil as fertiliser to grow more food.
• Crisp bags are filled with nitrogen gas instead of air, which keeps crisps fresh and cushions them.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «nitrogen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.