doesn't this assume both the external layer of the atmosphere and all of the earth to be impermeable to breath molecules?
A thing I'd like to know is how big the non-atmospheric reservoirs of nitrogen are. When nitrogen is "fixed" out of the atmosphere and into an ocean or a pile of bat guano, how long before it cycles back into the atmosphere, on average? A hundred years? A hundred million years? I'm pretty sure it's in that range because nitrate rocks are rare but used to support most of global agriculture, but I don't have a good idea of where it is in that range.