Plant life could not exist without lightning. Nitrogen is an essential food for plants. The atmosphere is 80 percent nitrogen, but in a form that is insoluble and unusable. It is the intense heat of lightning that forces the nitrogen to combine with oxygen in the air, forming nitrogen oxides that are soluble in water and fall to the earth in rain as dilute nitric acid. This reacts with minerals in the ground to become nitrates on which the plants depend.

　　要是没有闪电，植物就不可能生存。氮是植物一种必不可少的养分。其中80%是氮，可是不溶于水，无法为植物利用。闪电的高温是氮和空气中的氧化合成能溶于水的氧化氮，随雨水进入土地，稀释成硝酸。硝酸和地里的矿物作用，形成植物必需的硝酸盐。

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