The atmosphere on earth contains nitrogen in a form that is unusable to plants True False Solution The statement is true. Explanations: Although a sufficient amount of nitrogen gas is available in the environmental air but the plants are biologically unable to utilize this gaseous nitrogen for various physiological purposes. From evolutionary point of view, plants can utilize only compound form of nitrogen solubilized as salts for biological relavance. Since nitrogen is extremely essential for bio- synthesis of many biomolecules and sustaining life, natural methodologies to utilize the gaseous oxygen have been developed. A classical example for the same is presence of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the air such as Nostoc, Anabaena etc. These bacteria reside in the soild near the roots of legumes and pulse plants and help in fixation of atmospheric gaseous nitrogen into soluble form. This nitrogen is then utilized by the plants for various physiological functions..