Nitrogen

[deleted-34764]

How do you find the amount of nitrogen in compost? My science fair project is on composting and finding the best materials for composting. I wanted to find nitrogen and see how it changes the rate of the compost. I have tried to find the answer and this is my last resort. Thank you.

[deleted-71417]

Hi,

One standard method of Nitrogen analysis is the Kjekdahl method, which requires a little skill and access to a fairly well equipt chemistry laboratory. Here is a laboratory manual with directions.

http://www.icarda.org/Publications/Lab_ ... /part6.pdf

This resource has a number of methods described. You may be interested in the full laboratory manual:

http://www.icarda.org/Publications/Lab_Manual/read.htm

There are a fairly large number of methods for determining Nitrogen content of soils, as it is an important agricultural analysis. Here is another spectroscopic approach:
http://www.zju.edu.cn/jzus/2005/B0511/B051106.pdf

Here is another alternative:
http://frec.cropsci.illinois.edu/1999/report9/

Here is a survey document covering the whole analytical process which contains references to standard methods of analysis:

http://faculty.washington.edu/clh/nmanual/ch9.pdf

If you look at these analytical methods and decide they are over your head, you might consider alternative approaches to the problem. Do you live in an agricultural area? If you do , contact your local agriculture county extension agent and ask his advice. Another approach is to contact your nearest state college department of agriculture and enlist their help. Both these types of folks have as their main job objective the support of farmers in getting better results, and the analysis of nutrients in soils is one of their primary tools. They can certainly advise you on how to get the analysis done or possibly connect you to a mentor who might be able to advise you.

I have not been able to find a ScienceBuddies project idea on nitrogen analysis.

I wish you every success in your project!

Best regards,
Barrett Tomlinson