The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-03-12
by DIR ROBERT CALVERT
Chemiut, UnverFity ~ southern California
Los Angeles



un the Now York Timcsj
Food from air" was the optlmls-
tic prediction Of n chemist 20 years
gRO. Food from air IL a reality today,
IN Norway, In Germany and Mt Mag
ara Falls, Canada. Food from air is
Henry Fords idea for tho govern
mont plant at Muscle Shoals, Ala
bama. n should he ono Of our load
ing Industries whom great dams and
hydro-clcctrlc stations preserve the
watcr power now going 20 waste
down the roaring canyons OF our
mountain slopes.
Ia addition 10 sunlight and water,
plants require potash, phosphate and
nitrogen. As these ingredients Of
our naturally fertile soil are ex-
housted, by Intensive methods Of
cultivation. they must he replaced
through fertilizers We get our
nitrogen from Chile. Why not
from the mir itsclf2 Air is four
fifths nitrogen. over every square
foot or Manhattan island there are
1000 pounds OF II which, II made
soluble IN water, Is available for
growing increased quantities OF
foods Of all kinds, change In solu-
hility accomplished In Norway with
cheap electric power. our power
day for the usual commercial puT-
poses, and by night, after the busy
hours Of peak load have passed. for
giant electric furnaces for heating
the mir to temperatures at which
the nitrogen viii combine with oXy.
gen or other materials for the pro-
duction of fertilizer.
The water power possibilities of
America are OF fascinating extent.
Niagara, the best known pow er
site, has n drop of 162 feet: the
Colorado river has. a drop OF 5000
fcct within n flowing distance OF 90
miles, with narrow banks which
mako for economy IN dam con-
structlon. on our side OF Niagara
there IL developed about S00,0 900
horsepower; one corporations I'll
ings on Colorado river sites total
100000 horsepower.
Romances of Chemistry.
Development OF cheap electric
power on n large scale means more
than food from air. Niagara with
its relatively small surplus Of power
over that required for commercial
purposes gives us more than fert!-
lizer Electricity IL used there TO
dccomposo salt solution into caustic
soda for our soaps and chlorine for
purifying our drinking water and
bleaching our paper and textiles, to
decomposo water into hydrogen for
converting Cottonsccd oil to lard Of
uncxcclled wholesomeness and into
oxygen for acetylene welding. and
finally to give aluminium for
thousand uses, There the processes
OF one chemist Acheson. are used
to mako the worlds softest lubri-
cant, graphite. and the worlds
hardest abrasive, carboruudum,
which Is exceeded in hardness only
by the diamond.
These Industries are each ro-
nance OF electrochemlcal achieve
ment. And yet nitrogen, fertilizer
from tho air. is so Overshadowing
In interest and In Importance that
this discussion Is limited strictly to
the story OF nitrogen.
Indispensable I'm agriculture at all
times, nitrogen Is the key Industry
of national defense In times OF war.
On the entry OF the United states
into the world war the politicians
realized with n sthrt that nitrogen,
In tho form Of nitric acid or OF nj
trate OF soda, Is more necessary
than armies themselves; that nitro
gen enters into every pound OF i'm
portnnt explosives. and that our
supply comes almost entirely from
n foreign shore. The best brains
OF the chemical fraternity were or
eaniZed into an "air nltrates divi-