Nitrogen Facts
Nitrogen Facts
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| Interesting Nitrogen Facts: |
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| Nitrogen is believed to be the seventh most abundant element in the universe. |
| At normal pressure, nitrogen liquifies at 77 K (-195.79 °C) and freezes at 63 K (-210.01 °C). |
| Liquid nitrogen boils at -195.8 degrees Celsius. |
| Due to its volatility, it is a fairly rare element on Earth, remaining as a gas in the atmosphere. |
| Scientists in the eighteenth century recognized that there was a component of air that did not support combustion, thus discovering nitrogen. |
| In 1772, Daniel Rutherford discovered what he called "noxious air," air that didn't contain oxygen. |
| Large scale nitrogen manufacturing takes place through liquefaction of air and the fractional distillation of the resulting liquid air. |
| All living things contain nitrogen, mostly in amino acids, DNA, and RNA. |
| The human body contains about 3% nitrogen, making it the fourth most prevalent element after oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. |
| Nitrogen is required to build amino acids. |
| Specific bacteria contain an enzyme that converts atmospheric nitrogen to a more useable form for higher life forms. |
| Many plants are able to synthesize nitrogen directly from the soil so that it forms proteins digestable from the plants' leaves. |
| The nitrogen cycle explains the movement of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the biosphere and all living organisms, and back to the atmosphere. |
| Nitrogen in various compound forms was already in use by the Middle Ages, while nitrogen gas was used industrially by the early twentieth century. |
| Several nitrogen compounds are extremely explosive, including the well-known trinitrotoluene (TNT). |
| Other commercial uses for nitrogen include fertilizers, cryogenics, fuel systems, production of electronics, and incandescent lightbulbs. |
| Nitrogren-based fertilizer run-off into bodies of water has been blamed for "dead zones" created by an overgrowth of the bacteria that then deplete oxygen from the water, killing higher organisms. |
| Nitrogen gas can be a health hazard in that it can displace available oxygen, causing harm without prior warning due to the body's ability to take in nitrogen. |
| Other harmful effects can take place in the nearly instant freezing burn from liquid nitrogen. |
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