Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-05-15
NITROGEN FROM THE AIR.
Triumph of Electro Chemistry Of I'm
portance to Farmers.

| i'm form available as plant lOOd anu al
cost that enables the new synthetic
product to compete in the markets with
| the Chill nitrate, is a triumph for elec-
| tro- chemistry second to none among
all its conquests The author of this
truly remarkable feat is Christian
Birkeland, a Scandinavian scientist
professor of physics in the university
jof Christiania. His experiments were
begun only four years ago, but already
a large factory is in successful opera
ton at Notodden.
The significance of Prof Birkeland's
accomplishment lies in the fact that
! he demonstrated the possibility Of
making nitrogen combine with oxygen
in large quantities and at a relatively
| low expense OF course, the mere fact
of the combination as laboratory pos
sibility had been demonstrated in an
older generation by Cavendish, and
more recently by Sir William Crookes
and Lord Rayleigh in England and
Profs. Mutjmann and Hofer in Germa-
Iny Moreover, the experiments OF
Messrs. Bradley and Lovejoy at Mag
ara Falls gave promise of complete
solution of the problem, and had, in
deed, produced nitrogen compound
from the air in commercial quantity,
but not at a cost that made competi-
ton with the Chill nitrate possible.
Electricity as an Agent.
All these experimenters had adopted
electricity as the agent for extracting
the nitrogen. The American investi-
gators employed a current of 10000
volts; the Germans carried the current
tC $4,000 volts. The flame of the cleo
trio arc thus produced readily ignited
the nitrogen with which it came in
contact; the difficulty was that it came
in contact with so little. Despite in
genious arrangements of multiple
poles, the burning surface of the null
tiple arc remained so small in propor-
ton to the expenditure of energy that
the cost of the operation far exceeded
the commercial value of the product.
The popularity of Prof. Birkeland's
method is based on the curious fact
that when the electric current is made
to pass through a magnetic field, its
line of flame spreads out into a large
disk, like a flaming sun. The sheet
of flame thus produced represents no
greater expenditure Of energy than the
momentary flash Of light that the same
current would produce outside the
magnetic field. But obviously. 1T adds
enormously to the afclight surface
that comes in contact with the air
and hence in like proportion to the
amount of nitrogen that will be ignited.
In point Of fact, this burning of nitro
gen takes place so rapidly in laboratory
experiments as to vitiate the air of the
room very quickly.
To the casual reader unaccustomed
to chemical methods, there may seem
a puzzle in the explanation just out
lined. 1t may be asked, How can
nitrogen ignited and burned be OF SER
vice as nitrogen" Such a thought is
natural enough when one thinks of
dS ipplNN w 'NO''
which certainly seems to disappear
when it is burned. But, of course, the
fuel has not really disappeared except
in a very crude visual sense; it has
merely changed its form. In the main
its solid substance has become gaseous,
but every atom of it is still just as real
as before; and the chemist could, un-
der proper conditions, collect and
weigh and measure the transformed
gases. and even retransform them into
solids.
In the case of the atmospheric nitro
gen, as in the case of ordinary fuel,
burning consists essentially of the un-
ion of nitrogen atoms with atoms of
oxygen. The province of the electric
current is to produce the high temper
ature at which alone such union will
take place. The portion of the nitro
gen thus burned is still gaseous, but
it is no longer in the state Of pure nj
trogen: it's atoms are united with oxy-
gen atoms to form nitrous oxide gas.
This gas, mixed with the atmosphere
in which it has been generated, may
now be passed through a reservoir of
water, and the new gas combines with
a portion of the water to form nitric
acid, which is made up Of hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen, and is very ac-
tive substance 1t is as marked in its
eagerness to unite with other sub
stances as pure nitrogen is in its aloof-
ness.
La The Factory at Notodden.