The process of converting atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) into ammonia or other nitrogen compounds that plants can use. This is primarily carried out by specialized bacteria using the enzyme nitrogenase.
From 'nitrogen' (from Greek 'nitron' meaning soda and 'genes' meaning forming) and 'fixation' meaning to make stable or available. The term emerged in the early 1900s when scientists discovered how atmospheric nitrogen becomes available to living organisms.
Nitrogen fixation is one of nature's most energy-expensive processes - it takes 16 ATP molecules to fix just one nitrogen molecule! The triple bond in N2 is so strong that only a few organisms have evolved the ability to break it, making nitrogen-fixing bacteria some of the most important organisms on Earth.
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