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nitrogen
Table of Contents
nitrogen

 * Introduction
   
 * 
   History
   
 * 
   Occurrence and distribution
   
 * 
   Commercial production and uses
   
 * 
   Compounds
   
 * 
   Properties and reaction
   
 * 
   Analytical chemistry
   
 * 
   Biological and physiological significance
   
 * 
   Isotopes of nitrogen
   

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NITROGEN

chemical element
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Alternate titles: N, azote
By R. Thomas Sanderson • Edit History

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nitrogen
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Key People: Joseph Priestley ...(Show more) Related Topics: nitrogen cycle
nitric acid air biogenic gas liquid nitrogen ...(Show more)
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nitrogen (N), nonmetallic element of Group 15 [Va] of the periodic table. It is
a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas that is the most plentiful element in
Earth’s atmosphere and is a constituent of all living matter.

Element Propertiesatomic number7atomic weight14.0067melting point−209.86 °C
(−345.8 °F)boiling point−195.8 °C (−320.4 °F)density (1 atm, 0° C)1.2506
grams/litreusual oxidation states−3, +3, +5electron configuration1s22s22p3




HISTORY

About four-fifths of Earth’s atmosphere is nitrogen, which was isolated and
recognized as a specific substance during early investigations of the air. Carl
Wilhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist, showed in 1772 that air is a mixture of two
gases, one of which he called “fire air,” because it supported combustion, and
the other “foul air,” because it was left after the “fire air” had been used up.
The “fire air” was, of course, oxygen and the “foul air” nitrogen. At about the
same time, nitrogen also was recognized by a Scottish botanist, Daniel
Rutherford (who was the first to publish his findings), by the British chemist
Henry Cavendish, and by the British clergyman and scientist Joseph Priestley,
who, with Scheele, is given credit for the discovery of oxygen. Later work
showed the new gas to be a constituent of nitre, a common name for potassium
nitrate (KNO3), and, accordingly, it was named nitrogen by the French chemist
Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal in 1790. Nitrogen first was considered a chemical
element by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, whose explanation of the role of oxygen in
combustion eventually overthrew the phlogiston theory, an erroneous view of
combustion that became popular in the early 18th century. The inability of
nitrogen to support life (Greek: zoe) led Lavoisier to name it azote, still the
French equivalent of nitrogen.

Britannica Quiz
118 Names and Symbols of the Periodic Table Quiz
The periodic table is made up of 118 elements. How well do you know their
symbols? In this quiz you’ll be shown all 118 chemical symbols, and you’ll need
to choose the name of the chemical element that each one represents.



OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION

Among the elements, nitrogen ranks sixth in cosmic abundance. The atmosphere of
Earth consists of 75.51 percent by weight (or 78.09 percent by volume) of
nitrogen; this is the principal source of nitrogen for commerce and industry.
The atmosphere also contains varying small amounts of ammonia and ammonium
salts, as well as nitrogen oxides and nitric acid (the latter substances being
formed in electrical storms and in the internal combustion engine). Free
nitrogen is found in many meteorites; in gases of volcanoes, mines, and some
mineral springs; in the Sun; and in some stars and nebulae.

Nitrogen also occurs in mineral deposits of nitre or saltpetre (potassium
nitrate, KNO3) and Chile saltpetre (sodium nitrate, NaNO3), but these deposits
exist in quantities that are wholly inadequate for human needs. Another material
rich in nitrogen is guano, found in bat caves and in dry places frequented by
birds. In combination, nitrogen is found in the rain and soil as ammonia and
ammonium salts and in seawater as ammonium (NH4+), nitrite (NO2−), and nitrate
(NO3−) ions. Nitrogen constitutes on the average about 16 percent by weight of
the complex organic compounds known as proteins, present in all living
organisms. The natural abundance of nitrogen in Earth’s crust is 0.3 part per
1,000. The cosmic abundance—the estimated total abundance in the universe—is
between three and seven atoms per atom of silicon, which is taken as the
standard.



India, Russia, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine were the top
five producers of nitrogen (in the form of ammonia) in the early 21st century.




COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AND USES

Commercial production of nitrogen is largely by fractional distillation of
liquefied air. The boiling temperature of nitrogen is −195.8 °C (−320.4 °F),
about 13 °C (−23 °F) below that of oxygen, which is therefore left behind.
Nitrogen can also be produced on a large scale by burning carbon or hydrocarbons
in air and separating the resulting carbon dioxide and water from the residual
nitrogen. On a small scale, pure nitrogen is made by heating barium azide,
Ba(N3)2. Various laboratory reactions that yield nitrogen include heating
ammonium nitrite (NH4NO2) solutions, oxidation of ammonia by bromine water, and
oxidation of ammonia by hot cupric oxide.

Elemental nitrogen can be used as an inert atmosphere for reactions requiring
the exclusion of oxygen and moisture. In the liquid state, nitrogen has valuable
cryogenic applications; except for the gases hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide,
fluorine, and oxygen, practically all chemical substances have negligible vapour
pressures at the boiling point of nitrogen and exist, therefore, as crystalline
solids at that temperature.

In the chemical industry, nitrogen is used as a preventive of oxidation or other
deterioration of a product, as an inert diluent of a reactive gas, as a carrier
to remove heat or chemicals and as an inhibitor of fire or explosions. In the
food industry nitrogen gas is employed to prevent spoilage through oxidation,
mold, or insects, and liquid nitrogen is used for freeze drying and for
refrigeration systems. In the electrical industry nitrogen is used to prevent
oxidation and other chemical reactions, to pressurize cable jackets, and to
shield motors. Nitrogen finds application in the metals industry in welding,
soldering, and brazing, where it helps prevent oxidation, carburization, and
decarburization. As a nonreactive gas, nitrogen is employed to make foamed—or
expanded—rubber, plastics, and elastomers, to serve as a propellant gas for
aerosol cans, and to pressurize liquid propellants for reaction jets. In
medicine rapid freezing with liquid nitrogen may be used to preserve blood, bone
marrow, tissue, bacteria, and semen. Liquid nitrogen has also proven useful in
cryogenic research.



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 * LiveScience - Facts About Nitrogen

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