Figuring out Fertilizers:
Creating a Practical Chemical Fertilizer
Author: Michaela Buchanan
Group Members: Grant Kresge, Kirk Martinson
Abstract:
The goal of this experiment was to create an aqueous chemical fertilizer with the mass composition of 0.80% nitrogen, 0.50% phosphorous, 0.10% potassium, and 0.20% sulfur4 and a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. The criterion of mass percent composition was addressed by conducting molarity, stoichiometry, and unit conversion calculations to determine the mass of chemicals which should be used. Solubility rules were addressed to hypothesize a combination of chemical compounds which would contain the required elements but produce no precipitant. The use of a strong acid, in this case HCl, was implemented to control the pH in the final fertilizer solution. This experiment produced an aqueous fertilizer with no precipitants which had a final pH of 7 after the addition of 0.50 mL of HCl. The validation of the initially stated hypothesis through experimental results suggested that the technique used in this experiment was both effective and practical for creating a chemical fertilizer.
Introduction: Agriculture was a cornerstone of human civilization since the beginnings of organized societies. Therefore, the ability to increase the health and yield of crops was always of great interest to civilizations universally. Chemistry can be a great tool in the field of agriculture as is exemplified by the use of fertilizers in modern farming
It is also affordability, convenience, and effectiveness in nourishing plants; however it can also have disadvantages when using chemical based fertilizers. Plants will show signs of lacking nutrient the inorganic fertilizer was separate help over organic choices, it depends on soil organisms to first, break down the organic substance before the nutrients can be out. Inorganic fertilizer’s fast delivery elements and minerals eliminate this potential problem. Inorganic fertilizer, which is often reasonably priced, consists of mineral-based nutrients manufactured for instant application on crops. Unlike the organic variety, inorganic fertilizer does not need to decompose over time to supply nutrients to plants. Inorganic fertilizer contained balanced amounts of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus to supply plants and to grow it faster. These are the substance of chemical gain from the processes in cultivating the first one is urea. Nitrogen as urea can be lost to the atmosphere if fertilizer urea remains on the soil surface for total periods of time throughout warm
In the educative essay “What’s Eating America,” Michael Pollan designates the history of corn, a good and healthy food if cultivated properly. This essay is very informative because it talks about American’s diet. In this essay, Pollan examines the way of growing the corn as an influential example of using the chemical fertilizers in food. Also, He complains “Growing corn, which from a biological perspective had always been a process of capturing sunlight to turn it into food, has in no small measure become a process of converting fossil fuels into food…” (Pollan 302). While it might be very useful when used in a prudent way, in reality the usage of chemical fertilizers is higher and the farmers are feeding their corps more than it needs which affect the ecology’s system. In other words, his focus is on corn and not only does him just points out corn presence in nearly all food products; but he comes up with other matters like fossil fuels and the factories polluting the atmosphere. Thus, it’s astonishing when someone stops and thinks about how many things are composed from corn.
The United States was built on an agrarian system. The ability to grow crops helped create an economic backbone for the county. The use of fertilizer became a norm in farming and agriculture and was not considered a potentially harmful substance. Modern science in combination with the terrorist mind has looked at fertilizer as a weapon, particularly those containing ammonium nitrate. The Ammonium Nitrate Security Program shows how far the United States has progressed by regressing when the issue of terrorism is presented into the conversation. Terrorists are using readily available tools which can be purchased legally without knowledge of law enforcement personnel.
While experimenting with the green beans, the seeds exposed to the organic plant food germinated within five days of the experiment and the seeds exposed to the chemical plant food germinated within six. The seeds that acted as the control had been expected to grow the least, however, it was surprising that they did not grow at all. Both the chemical and organic fertilizers proved to have positive results on the plants. It was also unexpected when the seeds exposed to the chemical plant food surpassed the height of the other experimental seeds after being shorter. The predicted reason for the increase in growth with seeds given Miracle Grow was because chemical fertilizers automatically store up the nutrients and disperse it constantly throughout
So firstly we calculate the amount of HCl used, which is 0.000846mol. Then, because NaOH and HCl react with a ratio of 1:1, we can determine the NaOH reacted with HCl is also 0.000846mol. After that, we can subtract this amount from all 20 ml NaOH added to the sample, so the amount of NaOH reacted with sample is 0.00107mol. This part of NaOh reacts with ammonia at a ratio of 1:1. So the amount of ammonia is 0.00107mol, containing 0.18g nitrogen. Finally, we say show that the proportion of nitrogen in the fertiliser is 13.8%
Abby Conroy was tasked with calculating an effective quote for Breeland Ltd., she chose the activity based accounting costing system since it more accurately captures the related costs. A special order was placed by Breeland Ltd. with Ace Fertilizer Company. The did not plan to order more of this product in the future. Based on Ace’s policy, the special order included disposal costs for any used materials in the event no other orders existed for the unused materials at the time the Breeland contract was signed. Abby correctly calculated the total direct material and labor costs and accurately arrived at the indirect costs using the ABC method and used cost activity pools that make sense for the company and
Did you know 16 million people in the world are vegetarian? Plants need soil to live, and we need plants to live. Most soils contains clay, silt, sand, stones, rocks, boulders, humus, and peat. Soil also has a pH level. “A pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.”Different climates have different soil pH. For example, soil in desert has a very basic soil pH. The pH of something can be measured using the pH scale. If it is around 1, it is strongly acidic. If its pH is 14, it is too basic. A pH of 7 is neutral and good for most plants. In this experiment, a blue and pink Hydrangea, a white daisy, and a balsam flower will be used. How pH affects plant growth depends on
Fertilizer is a mixture of nutrients that plants need to live, and it is added to soil in gardens and on lawns to improve the health of the plants. According to sunset.com, most fertilizers contain phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. A complete fertilizer is a
closing the stomata in the leaves. There is often a lack of it in the
John Bennett Lawes, an English agricultural specialist in 1842, came up with the initial plan for applying artificial compost. Even though Lawes’s fertilizer produced augmented phosphorus including additional essential nutrients, the problem with fixating nitrogen in plants continued. Though the Haber method, in addition to the resulting, Green Revolution, gave adequate food to feed the earths quick expanding population, the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in plants and the application of fake hormones and medicines in cows has numerous adverse effects on the ecosystem and individual vitality.
Out of the various substances in fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer supplies key nutrients for the development of wheat. Because nitrogen fertilizer has little residue, it does not harm the environment as much as other fertilizers. (Lam, Chen, Norton, Armstrong, 2012) “Corn, wheat, and rice, the fast-growing crops on which humanity depends for survival, are among the most nitrogen hungry of all plants. They demand more, in fact, than nature alone can provide.” (Charles 2013)
The form in which the fertiliser is used is based on the crop, there are two main forms in which fertilisers are used solid granules/ prills and fluid.
The objectives of this experiment included creating an aqueous fertilizer in which all of the compounds added to the fertilizer would dissolve and stay in solution, ensuring that the liquid fertilizer had a neutral pH between 6.0-7.0, and keeping the liquid fertilizer sample to no more than 25 mL to minimize waste. My group made a hypothesis that if we chose compounds that bonded to one another, that the fertilizer would be aqueous because all of the compounds would remain in solution.
With the constant overuse of the soil negative effects started to appear regarding the soil and the soil’s fertility. As farmers introduce the chemical fertilizers to their crops they seldom know that they are decreasing the soil’s fertility level and in return increasing the acidic levels, this is due to the fact that chemical fertilizers cause the soil to turn acidic (Missouri Botanical Garden). Plants grow best in neutral soils so when the soil turns acidic due to the implementation of chemical fertilizers farmers add more chemical fertilizers to help the next yield of crops grow thinking that the soil needs more nutrients and N-P-K when in reality all it needs is a little time off to try to recuperate itself naturally. Sadly, sometimes in the end the soil is no longer able to grow anything. The great amounts of fertilizers that are being used result in the soil turning into a desert; literally, this process is desertification. Desertification is just that, the process in which a healthy fertile soil turns into a dry infertile desert and once the soil reaches this state it is very difficult to restore it back to the healthy soil it used to be but it is not impossible. A great role model that helped proved this statement was the great Aldo Leopold. Leopold was a scientist that after experiencing a sudden change of thoughts; after looking inside a wolf’s eye, wrote about the importance of being one
My family and I do a lot of traveling and while traveling we pass through rural communities where the people have to grow their own food as they do not have enough income to buy their own food. Some of these people, however, still use fertilizer in order to increase the rate of production and total yield produced. Those people who use a form of fertilizer to feed their plants, they generally use cattle manure or home-made fertilizer. At home we used to use inorganic fertilizers on our plants as they are easier to use and easily available at any garden shop, however, we have started to use the new Bokashi medium as fertilizer as it is better for the environment and it also reduces food waste. Food waste is reduced as the leftover food is used to create a liquid which can be used as a fertilizer as it is full of the nutrients left in the leftover food. I started to think about which fertilizer would work best: According to my research on the difference between inorganic and organic fertilizers, the organic fertilizers work so well because they supply the plants with the nutrients required for growth immediately. However, the organic fertilizers such as cattle manure work so well because they enrich the soil with humus allowing for nutrients to form naturally, which will last. I was interested in which of these fertilizers would produce the best crop in a set period of time, as this would help figure out which fertilizer is best to use in the garden. Research