STUDENT RESERVOIR STRIPS – CUT OUT EACH RESERVOIR – ONE STRIP PER 2-3 PERSON GROUP DEPENDING ON CLASS SIZE
ATMOSPHERE
SURFACE WATER
RAIN WATER
Lightning strikes – Nitrogen gas is made into a
solid by nitrogen-fixing bacteria and travels to
the SOIL!
You are just the sort of nitrogen that plants
need to live.
You are now within a LIVE PLANT!
You fall into a lake or stream as acid rain
containing you so you are now part of
SURFACE WATER!
Blue-green algae and bacteria change you into
a solid bringing you to the SOIL!
You travel through the rivers and streams to
the OCEAN!
You fall on the land as acid rain and become
part of the SOIL!
Bean plants extract you from the air by their
root nodules and bring you to the SOIL!
You percolate underground into the
GROUNDWATER!
You percolate deep underground in the
GROUNDWATER!
Some nitrogen can get into the water in
clouds and then fall as RAIN!
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You rain down into the OCEAN!
GROUNDWATER
SOIL
OCEAN
You have dissolved in the groundwater as
nitrates and now you have worked your way
up to the SURFACE WATER (SPRINGS)!
You dissolve in the water in the soil as nitrates
and filter down by leaching into the
GROUNDWATER!
LOOK OUT! You have washed as nitrates into
the GROUNDWATER!
You are dissolved in the groundwater and you
are traveling underground as nitrates and you
become part of the OCEANS!
You dissolve in the soil as nitrates and wash
into the SURFACE WATER!
You are the perfect kind of nitrogen that
plants need to live called nitrates. The root
nodules have absorbed you. You are now part
of a LIVE PLANT!
You are the perfect kind of nitrogen that
plants need to live called nitrates. The root
nodules have absorbed you. You are now
within a LIVE PLANT!
Denitrification bacteria have transformed you
into nitrogen gas again and now you are part
of the ATMOSPHERE!
Denitrification bacteria have transformed you
into nitrogen gas and now you are part of the
ATMOSPHERE!
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ANIMAL WASTE
DEAD PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Because this live animal ate plants and
another live animal ate this live animal, you
are now in them and are helping them make
protein and amino acids (DNA) – But – the
animal you are in has died. Go to DEAD
PLANTS AND ANIMALS!
EGADS! Someone just stepped on you. Now
you are decomposing and becoming ammonia
salts by nitrifying bacteria in the SOIL!
You decomposed into ammonia salts because
of nitrifying bacteria. You are a nitrate and
became part of the SOIL!
CONGRATULATIONS! The animal you were in
has excreted (pooped) you in its waste. Go to
ANIMAL WASTE!
A farm supply company has picked you up and
made you into ORGANIC fertilizer! Go to
FERTILIZER!
You decomposed into ammonia salts because
of nitrifying bacteria. You are a nitrate and
became part of the SURFACE WATER!
WHAT’S THAT? YOU ARE FLOATING IN THE
WATER. You are dissolving into the SURFACE
WATER!
You are decomposed into ammonia salts
because of nitrifying bacteria and become
dissolved in the OCEANS!
LIVE ANIMALS
FOREST FIRE! The wood you are in burned
and you have been released as nitrogen gas
back into the ATMOSPHERE!
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LIVE PLANT
ORGANIC FERTILIZER
PEOPLE
The plant you are within has died. Go to
DEAD PLANTS AND ANIMALS!
You are just the kind of nitrogen that plants
need to live called a nitrate. You are now in
the LIVE PLANT!
You were in the plants or animal this person
ate. You are helping this person make protein
and amino acids for their DNA. This person
used the bathroom in their home and
excreted you in their feces where the septic
system is not working properly. Go to the
GROUNDWATER.
An animal has eaten the plant you are in. Go
to LIVE ANIMALS!
You have become part of the SOIL!
Some of this person’s waste is decomposing.
Go to SOIL!
Some of this person’s waste has made it to
the soil and becomes mixed with SURFACE
WATER!
You dissolve and wash into the SURFACE
WATER!
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