 Discovery Information
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| Who: Daniel Rutherford |
| When: 1772 |
| Where: Scotland/Sweden |
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| Name Origin
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| Latin nitrogenium, where nitrum (from Greek nitron) means "native soda", and genes means "forming". |
| "Nitrogen" in different languages. |
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| Sources
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| Nitrogen can be made by liquification and then fractional distillation of the air. It is very easily done commercially. It can also be made by heating NaN3 to 300 degrees C.
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| Around 44 million tons are produced annually. |
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| Abundance
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| Universe: 1000 ppm (by weight) |
| Sun: 1000 ppm (by weight) |
| Carbonaceous meteorite: 1400 ppm |
| Earth's Crust: 25 ppm |
| Seawater: |
| Atlantic surface: 8 x 10-5 ppm
|
| Atlantic deep: 2.7 x 10-1 ppm
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| Pacific surface: 8 x 10-5 ppm
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| Pacific deep: 5.4 x 10-1 ppm
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| Human: |
| 2.6 x 107 ppb by weight
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| 1.2 x 107 ppb by atoms
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| Uses
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| Nitrogen has many industrial uses in the gaseous forms, but probably the most interesting is liquid nitrogen, which is extremely
cold. Items that must be frozen to extremely low temperatures for preservation are frequently stored in liquid nitrogen. Fertility
clinics store sperm, eggs and embryos used to help infertile couples become pregnant in ampoules in liquid nitrogen. Since
nitrogen gas is very stable, at standard temperature and pressure, it is used as the air in inert welding atmospheres. Documents, foods and chemicals are sometimes stored in nitrogen to keep them from oxidizing
or reacting with air or water.
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| Notes
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| Nitrogen is the largest single component of the Earth's atmosphere (78.084% by volume, 75.5% by weight). |
| Nitrogen in the elemental form was considered to be inert and was even named ozote which refers to the fact that it is not
reactive. Of course nitrogen does form compounds, but the gaseous form consists of diamers (2 nitrogens bonded together). The diamer is very stable.
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| Nitrogen is a major element in organic compounds, especially proteins. Some nitrogen compounds are highly reactive. Trinitrotoluene is TNT or dynamite. Ammonium Nitrate is a fertilizer, but was used as the major explosive
ingredient in the Oklahoma City bombing. Anfo, or Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil mixture is the primary explosive used in the
mining industry because it is inexpensive, easy to manufacture and can be easily manufactured near the mine site thus reducing
the risks and expenses related to the transportation of explosives. Nitrates, Nitrites and Azides (all nitrogen compounds are either oxidizers or reactives and will react violently under the right conditions.
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| The triple bond in molecular nitrogen (N2) is one of the strongest in nature. The resulting difficulty of converting (N2) into other compounds, and the ease (and associated high energy release) of converting nitrogen compounds into elemental
N2, have dominated the role of nitrogen in both nature and human economic activities.
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| Hazards
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| Rapid release of nitrogen gas into an enclosed space can displace oxygen, and therefore represents an asphyxiation hazard. Nitrogen also dissolves in the bloodstream, and rapid decompression (particularly
in the case of divers ascending too quickly) can lead to a potentially fatal condition called decompression sickness, when
nitrogen bubbles form in the bloodstream. It can also cause nitrogen narcosis.
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