Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-11-06
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


A new process for getting large
quantities of nitrogen out of the
atmosphere and depending on what
may be a hitherto unknown prop
erty of matter. has just been pat
ented by Maj. Ovid E. Roberts, jr.,
former chief of industrial relations
of the Chemical Warfare Service.
The new property Of matter ex-
pounded by Maj. Roberts in his
patent application is excitability of
specific chemical molecules by
specific wave lengths of electro
magnetic energy. Nitrogen, the heavy
and almost inert gas which consti-
tutes almost 80 per cent of the air,
can be made to combine with oxygen
in compounds which can be re-
covered for use in fertilizers or ex-
plosives when a mixture of the two
gases is traversed by a narrow band
of electromagnetic wave lengths
between 1,7OO and 2,1OO angstrom
units, a region in the spectrum
which falls between the shortest of
the invisible ultraviolet light rays
and the longest x-rays. Such rays
are obtained from an electrical
brush discharge" or in the form of
the cathode rays from an aluminium
of chromium electrode.
Studied for Years.
The problem of getting nitrogen
out of the great reservoir of the
atmosphere in a disable form at rea-
sonable cost has been studied by
generation of chemists. Various
processes have been used, all quite
expensive. The most successful to
date is the carbamide chemical
process used by the Government at
its Muscle Shoals plant. The idea
of extracting the heavy gas by a
more direct process, Maj. Roberts
says, is derived from the layered
structure of the earth's atmosphere
itself,
About 20 miles above the earth's
surface is thin blanket of ozone.
an invigorating gas in which three
atoms of oxygen are joined together
to form one molecule. If it were
not for this blanket all life on earth
probably would be at an end. The
ozone is formed from the ordinary
oxygen of the atmosphere by the
action OF very short ultraviolet rays
from the sun. Formation of the gas
which also is formed close to the
surface OF the earth by electrical
discharges and by strokes of light
nlng-takes up the energy of these
rays and prevents them from reach
ing the earth, where an excess of
them probably would prove fatal to
life.
Probably Saves Life.
But said Maj. Roberts in explain
ing the principle on which his new
process is based, the great ozone
blanket also probably saves life on
the earth's surface from being pois-
oned with nitric acid which would
be formed by combination of a
nltrogen-oXygen compound with
water. Recent spectroscopic investi-
cations have shown that nitrogen
oxygen compounds exists in consid-
cradle quantities in the very thin
layers of the atmosphere above the
blanket. They are brought about in
some way, Maj. Roberts deduced.
by the action of these short sun
waves passing through the air, vet
they are not formed in the lower
layers Of the atmosphere and they
are not mixed in the ozone layer.
Apparently, he found from expert
ment, oxygen and nitrogen when
mixed together combine under the
influence of these short waves when
the percentage of oxygen in the
combination is much less than in
the air found near the earth's sur
face. Ozone is formed at the same
time. The percentage of nitrous
oxides, he found, constantly de-
creases during the process and that
OF ozone rises. Apparently nature
has an automatic device for pre-
venting the nitric acid poisoning of
the earth, because the ozone formed
simultaneously filters or screens out
the rays responsible for the combi-
nation. Hence the more of the
triple oxygen gas that is formed
the less nitrogen-oxygen combina-
lions are possible.
He has overcome this difficulty
according to one of the claims in his