Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1917-02-28
NITRATE SUPPLY
T ROM THE AIR

The National Geographic society with
hea dquarters in Washington issued Il
bulletin today in which it discusses rha
question OF the nitrate supply or the
world. In this bulletin il points OUT
that as a result of the scientific eX-
periments that have been going on for
the past two or three years, processes
for securing nitrogen from the air. as
well as others for securing il from
our coal deposits. promise to give us
an absolute independence of any other
nation in the world for nitrate supplies
in the future. The bulletin says:
The much discussed issue of flu
ture nitrogen supply seems to have
been solved by scientists here and
abroad since the outbreak Of the war in
Europe. Heretofore the world has had
to depend mainly upon the nitrate
beds Of Chile for its nitrogen. Many
processes FOR extracting nitrogen from
the air where 1t is to lie found in SUI
per abundant quantities. since IL con-
stitutes about ee-fourtns OF all our
atmosphere. have been developed. but
most OF them have proved so expensive
as TO be prohiDitive except in times of
emergency. Recently, however there
has been discovered and put in use a
new process that is said to reduce the
horse power required to extract Civ
en- amount Of nitrogen 10 one twelfth
of the former proportion. The result
OF this will probably he that in the
years to come the world will find i
cheaper source of nitrogen right at
hand in the air than has ever been
found IL the nitrate beds of Chile.
1t has also been found that through
the cooking process. big supplies Of nj
troSen can be extracted from coal En-
gineers now estimate that if we We're
TO coke twice as much coal as we have
in the past, which would still be less
than five per cent of our total coal
output. the nitrogen that we could Sc
cure therefrom would be more than
enorgh to meet all Of our needs as a
nation, either in peace or in war. Ii
the coking OF coal substance Is recoV-
cred which is called By the chemist
{ benzol. The expenses of recovery are
not excessively great, and just ut the
time when our government was an
nouncing that there was no real nitrate
deposit anywhere is sight in the United
States of really important value, tho
descriptions Of the Haber process OF
extraction from the air and of the pro-
cesses for recovery from coal have beer
most timely
Perhaps the most romantic thing OF
is that part that nitrogen plays in H.
a nitrogen atom is The most patrician
of all atoms. 1t never descends to the
earth unless driven there by the thun-
derbolt. Then it comes down on the
bosom of the raindrop. gets into the
soil and starts an endless round OF
combinations with the atoms of other
elements. some more and some less dis
tasteful to it, but none after its own
liking. Now IL Is linked up with Others
to form the grass and the grain, now
united with still others in the flesh OF
the animal world and now going bach
! to grass again. But when the chemist
comes along and imprisons it along
! with other atoms whose company 1t re-
sents, the prison being cotton or earth
is awaits first opportunity to make a
1 bold dash for liberty. This opportunity
usually comes with the decorating ef-
! feet of illuminate OF mercury or some
/ other substance. and the result Is a
terrific explosion. The nitrogen atom
/ at last free from it's many entangline
alliances, makes o bold dash back into
/ the eircumambient and the violence OF
the explosion Is the measure of the re-
! pulsion II feels toward the neighbors
with which it has been forced pris-
oner.
Not only will the new processes OF
extracting a bountiful supply of nitro
! gen from the air and from coal be an
advantage to us in the matter of de-