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When the universe came into existence, the only elements were mainly hydrogen and helium. Some time afterwards, stars formed and started to burn hydrogen in a nuclear furnace. As this happens the hydrogen combines to form helium. This is the process which occurs in our own sun that is also just a star. As the sun and other stars run out of hydrogen the core collapses, the temperature increases and helium starts to burn to form heavier elements. Small stars form red giants and then simply fade away but if the star is large enough they go out with a bang called a supernova. This returns a lot of the star's mass to the universe in the form of larger atoms before the remainder forms and falls into a black hole. Some time later when new stars form and planets form around them, they contain these heavier elements remnants of earlier stars. All of the heavier elements on earth had their origins is such supernova stars. Nitrogen is the largest component of the atmosphere. Phosphorus is mined as phosphate.

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14y ago
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15y ago

The history of Earth's atmosphere earlier than about one billion years ago is poorly understood, and is the focus of a great deal of research. A likely scenario suggests that, once the Earth lost its initial hydrogen/helium atmosphere (about four billion years ago), volcanic outgassing replaced it with a thick, heavy atmosphere of carbon dioxide, water vapour and ammonia. Over time, the majority of the carbon dioxide was dissolved into the seas and eventually trapped as carbonate rocks; while sunlight, and increasingly the oxygen produced by living things, broke down the ammonia to release nitrogen, a relatively stable and unreactive gas that today makes up 78% of the atmosphere.

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15y ago

nitrogen come from the ground when it gets in the roots

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Q: Where did the nitrogen come from that is in our air today?
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