Nitrogen - General Properties, Where It Comes From, How Nitrogen Is Obtained, How We Use It
element atomic air abundance
Nitrogen is the non-metallic chemical element of atomic number 7, with a symbol N, atomic weight 14.0067, specific gravity 0.96737 (compared to air), melting point -345.74°F (-209.86°C), boiling point -320.44°F (-195.8°C).
Nitrogen is a non-metallic element located in group 15 of the periodic table. It has two stable isotopes: nitrogen-14, with an abundance of 99.634%, and nitrogen-15, with an abundance of 0.366%. At least five radioactive isotopes of the element have been prepared, with atomic weights of 12, 13, 16, 17, and 18.
Credit for the discovery of nitrogen is usually given to the Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, although Henry Cavendish, Joseph Priestly, and Carl Scheele could also claim to have discovered the element at about the same time. Nitrogen was first identified as the product left behind when a substance was burned in a closed sample of air (which, of course, removed the oxygen component of air).
Additional Topics
Nitrogen is produced commercially almost exclusively from air, most commonly by the fractional distillation of liquid air. In this process, air is first cooled to a temperature below that of the boiling points of its major components, a temperature somewhat less than - 328°F (-200°C). The liquid air is then allowed to warm up, allowing the lower-boiling-point nitrogen to evaporate fr…
As more and more uses for the element have been found, the demand for nitrogen has increased dramatically over the past few decades. In 1988, for example, it was the second most widely produced chemical in the United States, with a production of 52.1 billion lbs (23.7 billion kg). The most important applications of nitrogen depend on the element's inertness. For example, it is used as a bla…
The process by which nitrogen is cycled through the environment, from plants to animals to the atmosphere and back to plants, is known as the nitrogen cycle. In that cycle, nitrogen gas in the atmosphere is converted ("fixed") to a combined form by the action of lightning, in which it is converted to an oxide of nitrogen, or by certain nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil, which chan…
Some compounds of nitrogen have been implicated in a variety of environmental questions. For example, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite have been used as food additives because of their ability to inhibit the growth of disease-causing microorganisms. The compounds are most widely used in preserving meats such as bacon, ham, sausage, hot dogs, and bologna, as well as some fish products. However, qu…
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User Comments
about 1 year ago
John
uhhmm ......... ur fat
over 1 year ago
i need help can anyone tell me facts about nitrogen if you have a face book end me a message on there too
almost 3 years ago
Steve Farris
I worked with water pumped nitrogen(gas) in the navy and was always told it is an gas that won't support combustion, and now I see Shell has added it to their gas? Whats the deal. Thanks Steve