Chapter 16, Problem 99A

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

An advertisement explaining that company A’s fertilizer works better than company B’s fertilizer because it has smaller sized granules needs to be represented.

Concept introduction:

Fertilizers are used in plants or soil to supply the essential nutrients of them. They are used to increase the productivity of crops. The fertilizers contain the essential nutrients which are needed by the plants like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

Answer to Problem 99A

As shown in the figure below that larger granule due to their larger size they have smaller surface area more of the chemicals would be locked away in the middle of the granules that wouldn’t be able to interact with the soil. But the small granules have greater surface area therefore, the more the chemicals in the fertilizer are exposed to the soil around it and can react with it.

Explanation of Solution

Smaller granules are easier to use in fertilizer as the granules in the bag with smaller pieces potentially add up to a more visible surface area than the bag of larger granules for the same amount of a bag of fertilizer.

The higher the fertilizer's surface area has, the more chemicals in the fertilizer are exposed to and can react with, the soil around it. If the granules were bigger, some of the contaminants that could not interact with the soil would be locked away in the center of the granules. So, buy company A’s fertilizer for quicker and more crop production.

Conclusion

Smaller granule fertilizers are easy to use than larger granule fertilizer because larger size granule takes more space than smaller size granule fertilizers.