But unlike the nitrogen we breathe in and out every day, the new form demands careful handling, because it can be furiously explosive. The nitrogen in air consists of molecules in which two nitrogen atoms are bound tightly together. Yet all life needs nitrogen, and micro-organisms have evolved the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen into more reactive forms.
Sulphur comes in several varieties, such as rings of six, seven, eight and ten atoms.
But nitrogen is so keen on its rather dull two-atom union that it resists attempts to induce it into more interesting configurations. One other form has, however, been known for over a hundred years. In 1890 a three-atom form of nitrogen was discovered that bears a negative electric charge. The explosive nature arises from nitrogen's eagerness to revert to its two-atom form. Since this discovery, no one has been able to isolate another form of nitrogen.