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What Connects Bones, Bird Poop, and Toxic Green Slime? Hint: Without It, Half of Us Wouldn't Be Alive Today

Gastropod

CHAPTER

The Limiting Factor for Plants

Plants need phosphorus but also potassium, which is mined from salt deposits. The other main limiting factor for plants is nitrogen, like Libig said. In 1909 Fritz Haber figured out how to strip nitrogen from thin air. Only thing in nature hot enough to break apart those bonds and get nitrogen into a plant-friendly format is a bolt of lightning.

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