A farmer spreading manure to improve soil fertility
Daniel Rutherford, discoverer of nitrogen
Ball-and-stick model of the diamminesilver(I) cation, [Ag(NH3)2]+
Schematic representation of the nitrogen cycle. Abiotic nitrogen fixation has been omitted.
World population supported with and without synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.
The shapes of the five orbitals occupied in nitrogen. The two colours show the phase or sign of the wave function in each region. From left to right: 1s, 2s (cutaway to show internal structure), 2px, 2py, 2pz.
Ball-and-stick model of the tetraamminediaquacopper(II) cation, [Cu(NH3)4(H2O)2](2+)
Nodules are visible on this broad bean root
Founded in 1812, Mirat, producer of manures and fertilizers, is claimed to be the oldest industrial business in Salamanca (Spain).
Table of nuclides (Segrè chart) from carbon to fluorine (including nitrogen). Orange indicates proton emission (nuclides outside the proton drip line); pink for positron emission (inverse beta decay); black for stable nuclides; blue for electron emission (beta decay); and violet for neutron emission (nuclides outside the neutron drip line). Proton number increases going up the vertical axis and neutron number going to the right on the horizontal axis.
Jabir ibn Hayyan
A sectioned alder tree root nodule
Six tomato plants grown with and without nitrate fertilizer on nutrient-poor sand/clay soil. One of the plants in the nutrient-poor soil has died.
Molecular orbital diagram of dinitrogen molecule, N2. There are five bonding orbitals and two antibonding orbitals (marked with an asterisk; orbitals involving the inner 1s electrons not shown), giving a total bond order of three.
This high-pressure reactor was built in 1921 by BASF in Ludwigshafen and was re-erected on the premises of the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.
Equipment for a study of nitrogen fixation by alpha rays (Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory, 1926)
Inorganic fertilizer use by region
Solid nitrogen on the plains of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto next to water ice mountains
A train carrying Anhydrous Ammonia.
Lightning heats the air around it breaking the bonds of starting the formation of nitrous acid.
Total nitrogenous fertilizer consumption per region, measured in tonnes of total nutrient per year.
Structure of [Ru(NH3)5(N2)]2+ (pentaamine(dinitrogen)ruthenium(II)), the first dinitrogen complex to be discovered
Liquid ammonia bottle
An apatite mine in Siilinjärvi, Finland.
Mesomeric structures of borazine, (–BH–NH–)3
Household ammonia
Compost bin for small-scale production of organic fertilizer
Standard reduction potentials for nitrogen-containing species. Top diagram shows potentials at pH 0; bottom diagram shows potentials at pH 14.
Ammoniacal Gas Engine Streetcar in New Orleans drawn by Alfred Waud in 1871.
A large commercial compost operation
Nitrogen trichloride
The X-15 aircraft used ammonia as one component fuel of its rocket engine
Applying superphosphate fertilizer by hand, New Zealand, 1938
Nitrogen dioxide at −196 °C, 0 °C, 23 °C, 35 °C, and 50 °C. converts to colourless dinitrogen tetroxide at low temperatures, and reverts to  at higher temperatures.
Anti-meth sign on tank of anhydrous ammonia, Otley, Iowa. Anhydrous ammonia is a common farm fertilizer that is also a critical ingredient in making methamphetamine. In 2005, Iowa used grant money to give out thousands of locks to prevent criminals from getting into the tanks.
Fertilizer burn
Fuming nitric acid contaminated with yellow nitrogen dioxide
The world's longest ammonia pipeline (roughly 2400 km long), running from the TogliattiAzot plant in Russia to Odessa in Ukraine
N-Butylthiophosphoryltriamide, an enhanced efficiency fertilizer.
Schematic representation of the flow of nitrogen compounds through a land environment
Hydrochloric acid sample releasing HCl fumes, which are reacting with ammonia fumes to produce a white smoke of ammonium chloride.
Fertilizer use (2018). From FAO's World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2020
A container vehicle carrying liquid nitrogen.
Production trend of ammonia between 1947 and 2007
The diagram displays the statistics of fertilizer consumption in western and central European counties from data published by The World Bank for 2012.
Main symptoms of hyperammonemia (ammonia reaching toxic concentrations).
Runoff of soil and fertilizer during a rain storm
Ammonia occurs in the atmospheres of the outer giant planets such as Jupiter (0.026% ammonia), Saturn (0.012% ammonia), and in the atmospheres and ices of Uranus and Neptune.
Large pile of phosphogypsum waste near Fort Meade, Florida.
Red circles show the location and size of many dead zones.
Global methane concentrations (surface and atmospheric) for 2005; note distinct plumes

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3.

- Ammonia

Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen, with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry.

- Nitrogen fixation

Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous waste, particularly among aquatic organisms, and it contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to 45 percent of the world's food and fertilizers.

- Ammonia

For most modern agricultural practices, fertilization focuses on three main macro nutrients: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) with occasional addition of supplements like rock dust for micronutrients.

- Fertilizer

As part of the nitrogen cycle, it is essential for agriculture and the manufacture of fertilizer.

- Nitrogen fixation

Many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates (propellants and explosives), and cyanides, contain nitrogen.

- Nitrogen

Synthetically produced ammonia and nitrates are key industrial fertilisers, and fertiliser nitrates are key pollutants in the eutrophication of water systems.

- Nitrogen

This process was used to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into nitric acid (HNO3), one of several chemical processes generally referred to as nitrogen fixation.

- Fertilizer

Nitrogen fixation by industrial processes like the Frank–Caro process (1895–1899) and Haber–Bosch process (1908–1913) eased this shortage of nitrogen compounds, to the extent that half of global food production (see Applications) now relies on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.

- Nitrogen

Only some bacteria and their host plants (notably legumes) can fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2) by converting it to ammonia.

- Fertilizer

Therefore, nitrogen fixation is required for the synthesis of amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein.

- Ammonia
A farmer spreading manure to improve soil fertility

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Fritz Haber, 1918

Haber process

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Fritz Haber, 1918
A historical (1921) high-pressure steel reactor for production of ammonia via the Haber process is displayed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
First reactor at the Oppau plant in 1913
Profiles of the active components of heterogeneous catalysts; the top right figure shows the profile of a shell catalyst.
Modern ammonia reactor with heat exchanger modules: The cold gas mixture is preheated to reaction temperature in heat exchangers by the reaction heat and cools in turn the produced ammonia.
Energy diagram
Industrial fertilizer plant

The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is an artificial nitrogen fixation process and is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia today.

The process converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using a metal catalyst under high temperatures and pressures:

The ammonia is used mainly as a nitrogen fertilizer as ammonia itself, in the form of ammonium nitrate, and as urea.