Nitrogen
History of Nitrogen
Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford. It was discover in Scotland in 1772. He removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from air and showed that the residual gas would not support combustion or living organisms. Daniel Rutherford was born in Edinburgh and was educated at the University of Edinburgh where his father John Rutherford (16951779) was a professor of medicine. As a student, he discovered nitrogen in 1772 and described oxygen, or "vital air" as he called it, in 1778. The origin of Nitrogen comes from the Greek words nitron genes meaning nitre and forming. Nitrogen was also studied at about the same time by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Henry Cavendish, and Joseph Priestley, Nitrogen is the largest single constituent of the Earth's atmosphere 78.082%.Nitrogen is a nonmetal, with an electro negativity of 3.0. It has five electrons in its outer shell and is therefore trivalent in most compounds. The original symbol for nitrogen was a circle wit a line threw it. The symbol was use by Dalton.
Uses of nitrogen
making light bulbs
used by the electronics industry as a blanketing medium when producing transistors
used as a refrigerant for the immersion freezing of food products and for transportation of foods
used as an inert atmosphere in tanks of explosive liquids
Nitric acid is used as an oxidizer in liquid fueled rockets
Used in stainless steel
used by the oil industry to build up pressure in wells to force crude oil upward
used by the electronics industry
used for fertilizer production and to produce nitric acid
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