"Fertilizers are chemical compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur,

sodium, which are essential for the growth and development of crops."

Fertilizers are generally inorganic salts such as ammonium nitrate,ammonium sulphate,

superphosphate, triple phosphate and potassium nitrate etc. Urea is organic in nature. Fertilizers
makeup deficiency of soil, keep it slightly alkaline or neutral. It should be noted down that the soil
having PH below 3 or above 10 is sterile.

FUNCTIONS OF FERTILIZER
Furnish adequate supply of the elements to the plants to become fertile again. Supply
of necessary food Maintain PH of
soil in between 7.00 to 8.00

TYPES OF FERTILIZER

There are two types of fertilizers.

Organic fertilizers

Mineral fertilizers

MINERAL FERTILIZERS
Some most important mineral fertilizers are :

Nitrogenous fertilizers

Potassic fertilizers

Phosphatic fertilizers

NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS

Essential component of these fertilizers is nitrogen.

EXAMPLES:

UREA (NH2-CO-NH2) [remember it is an organic fertilizer]

AMMONIUM NITRATE (NH4NO3)

AMMONIUM SULPHATE (NH4)2SO4

POTASSIC FERTILIZERS

Chile saltpeter
 Potassium nitrate etc.

PHOSPHATIC FERTILIZERS

Phosphates are excellent fertilizers. The presence of phosphorus in the soil is vital for successful
plant propagation. There are two important phosphoric fertilizers.

Super phosphate

Triple phosphate

SUPER PHOSPHATE

Super phosphate is the most important fertilizer, which is a mixture of calcium dihydrogen phosphate
and calcium sulphate (gypsum). This fertilizer is produced by treating rock phosphate or phosphorite
[Ca3(PO4)2] with sulphuric acid in special chambers.

Ca3(PO4)2 + 2H2SO4 ® 2Ca(H2PO4)2 + 2CaSO4

Since rock phosphate is insoluble in water, it cannot serve as an effective source of phosphorus for
plants. It is therefore converted in to more soluble form, Ca(H2PO4)2 mixture of it with gypsum is
known as super phosphate. It contains 18% to 20% of assimiliable P2O5.

TRIPLE PHOSPHATE

Rock phosphate is decomposed by phosphoric acid to produce triple phosphate.

Ca3(PO4)2 + 4H3PO4 ® 3Ca(H2PO4)2

It contains 48% of assimiliable P2O5 .

DETERGENTs

Detergents are soap-like compounds which are used for cleaning purpose. They are sodium salts of
long chain alkyl benzene sulphonic acids or sodium salts of long chain alkyl hydrogen sulphate,
whereas, soaps are sodium salts of long chain carboxylic acids. The general formulae of soaps and
detergents are:

Detergents may be used in hard water without the formation of scum. This is the advantage of a
detergent over soap which gives curdles when used with hard water.

STRUCTURE OF DETERGENTs

A detergent consists of two parts:

Hydrophilic part (water soluble)

 Hydrophobic part (oil soluble)

Hydrophilic part

Hydrophilic part is sodium salt which is readily soluble in water. e.g. –SO3-, –OSO3-, OH- or NR4.

Hydrophilic part is sodium salt which is readily soluble in water. e.g. –SO3-, –OSO3-, OH- or NR4.

This part of a detergent is ionic and is attracted by polar water molecules.

Hydrophobic part

hydrocarbon part of detergent is called hydrophobic part. It is non-polar . Hydrophobic part is

insoluble in water but it is soluble in oil. This part consists of a hydrocarbon segment and can
dissolve oil or grease

CLEANING ACTION

When a greasy cloth is put into aqueous solution of a detergent, The hydrophilic part of detergent is
dissolved in water while hydrophobic part dissolves grease or oil like substances on the cloth. On slight
agitation grease is readily removed from the cloth.

ADVANTAGE OF DETERGENT

See difference between soap and detergent.

DISADVANTAGE OF DETERGENT

Hydrocarbon chain of detergent does not broken by bacteria and bacteria remain in the solution.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOAP AND DETERGENT

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOAP AND DETERGENT

SOAP

DETERGENT

Soaps are sodium salts of long chain carboxylic acids. Detergents are sodium salts of long chain alkyl
benzene sulphonic acids or alkyl sulphate.

It is obtained by natural resources i.e. fats and oils. Detergents are synthetic materials.

Calcium and magnesium salts of soaps are insoluble in water. Calcium and magnesium salts of
detergents are soluble in water.

In hard water it produces scum which affect its cleaning action. Hard water does not affect its
cleaning action.