Synopsis
David Bellamy begins his trip around the nitrogen cycle in the Surrey hospital where he languished as a child suffering from acute kidney failure. He ends it by juggling with dung and urine in a Dutch pig farm. In between he explains how nitrogen is essential to all forms of life, but warns that too much of it can kill. To avoid poisoning the earth, the water and ourselves, the nitrogen cycle - in the state it is in at the moment - must be restored to safe dimensions.
- Programme: Bellamy Rides Again
- Episode: 03: The Nitrogen Cycle
- Channel: BBC One
- Broadcast year: 1991
Licence: ERA Licence required
Free to watch for UK schools, colleges and universities with an ERA Licence
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Bellamy Rides Again
01: The Carbon Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
01: The Carbon Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
Naturalist David Bellamy examines the six elemental cycles vital to life. This episode covers carbon, on whose cycle the earth's f...
02: The Water Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
02: The Water Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
David Bellamy finds water in the desert, in the rainforest, in a tropical lagoon and on top of a glacier in the Alps. He wades in w...
04: The Phosphorus Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
04: The Phosphorus Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
David Bellamy dances his way through an aerobics class to show how phosphorus helps turn food into energy. Then he sits in the...
05: The Sulphur Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
05: The Sulphur Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
Caked from head to foot in volcanic mud, tramping the bogs of Scotland and wallowing in tropical mangrove swamps, David Bellamy l...
06: The Human Race | Bellamy Rides Again
06: The Human Race | Bellamy Rides Again
Having examined the earth's life-support systems, David Bellamy turns his attention to the human beings who depend upon them. Every ...
More resources about Atoms, elements and compounds
Marie Curie | Icons
Marie Curie | Icons
Marie Curie discovered new elements, pioneered radiotherapy and was one of the first to examine the sub-atomic world, before a scandal saw her adopted ho...
04: The Phosphorus Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
04: The Phosphorus Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
David Bellamy dances his way through an aerobics class to show how phosphorus helps turn food into energy. Then he sits in the...
05: The Sulphur Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
05: The Sulphur Cycle | Bellamy Rides Again
Caked from head to foot in volcanic mud, tramping the bogs of Scotland and wallowing in tropical mangrove swamps, David Bellamy l...
Aluminium | Short Circuit
Aluminium | Short Circuit
Bringing chemistry, physics and biology to life using real-life examples, 3D graphics and practical experiments.
Ammonia | Short Circuit
Ammonia | Short Circuit
Bringing chemistry, physics and biology to life using real-life examples, 3D graphics and practical experiments.
Elements | Curriculum Bites
Elements | Curriculum Bites
Schools science programme where topics in the double science curriculum are broken down into small chunks.
How are elements made? | Wonders of the Universe
How are elements made? | Wonders of the Universe
Brian Cox explains what elements are and how they are formed, including the importance of carbon.
S03E09: Home Counties | Local Heroes
S03E09: Home Counties | Local Heroes
Hart-Davis begins by exploding balloons of hydrogen and oxygen in London, just as Henry Cavendish did in the late 18th century to prove ...
S04E05: North | Local Heroes
S04E05: North | Local Heroes
Adam Hart-Davis celebrates more pioneers of science, this week in Yorkshire and Lancashire, where he uncovers the steelmaking process that put S...
Types of Compounds | Curriculum Bites
Types of Compounds | Curriculum Bites
Spec references J248: C2.2h J250: C2.2h. An introduction to how elements react to form ionic and covalent compounds, with reference to ...
Uses of Transition Metals | Short Circuit
Uses of Transition Metals | Short Circuit
An extra-curricular link is made to transition metals, with an explanation of how metal oxides are used to produce stained glass. T...