The process was very energy intensive and was rapidly displaced by the Ostwald process once cheap ammonia became available.Īnother early production method was invented by French engineer Albert Nodon around 1913. About 20% of the produced oxides of nitrogen remained unreacted so the final towers contained an alkali solution to neutralize the rest. The first towers bubbled the nitrogen dioxide through water and non-reactive quartz fragments. The nitric oxide was cooled and oxidized by the remaining atmospheric oxygen to nitrogen dioxide, and this was subsequently absorbed in water in a series of packed column or plate column absorption towers to produce dilute nitric acid. Yields of up to approximately 4–5% nitric oxide were obtained at 3000 ☌, and less at lower temperatures. This process is based upon the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen by atmospheric oxygen to nitric oxide with a very high temperature electric arc. The industrial production of nitric acid from atmospheric air began in 1905 with the Birkeland–Eyde process, also known as the arc process. He used a high voltage battery and non-reactive electrodes and vessels such as gold electrode cones that doubled as vessels bridged by damp asbestos. In 1806, Humphry Davy reported the results of extensive distilled water electrolysis experiments concluding that nitric acid was produced at the anode from dissolved atmospheric nitrogen gas. In 1776 Antoine Lavoisier cited Joseph Priestley's work to point out that it can be converted from nitric oxide (which he calls "nitrous air"), "combined with an approximately equal volume of the purest part of common air, and with a considerable quantity of water." In 1785 Henry Cavendish determined its precise composition and showed that it could be synthesized by passing a stream of electric sparks through moist air. In the 17th century, Johann Rudolf Glauber devised a process to obtain nitric acid by distilling potassium nitrate with sulfuric acid. These works describe the distillation of a mixture containing niter and green vitriol, which they call "eau forte" (aqua fortis). Nitric acid is also found in works falsely attributed to Albert the Great and Ramon Llull (both 13th century). There will flow down by reason of the heat an oil like cow's butter. the flask containing the mixture) with a gentle fire. Then invert the apparatus and heat the upper portion (i.e. Plug the latter with a palm fibre and attach a glass receiver to it. Powder them well, separately, until they are like dust and then place them in a flask. Take five parts of pure flowers of nitre, three parts of Cyprus vitriol and two parts of Yemen alum. The recipe in the Ṣundūq al-ḥikma attributed to Jabir has been translated as follows: However, it has sometimes been claimed that nitric acid also occurs in various earlier Arabic works such as the Ṣundūq al-ḥikma ("Chest of Wisdom") attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan (8th century) or the Taʿwīdh al-Ḥākim attributed to the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (985–1021). The conventional view is that nitric acid was first described in pseudo-Geber's De inventione veritatis ("On the Discovery of Truth", after c. The discovery of mineral acids such as nitric acid is generally believed to go back to 13th-century European alchemy. Nitric acid is also commonly used as a strong oxidizing agent. While some resulting nitro compounds are shock- and thermally-sensitive explosives, a few are stable enough to be used in munitions and demolition, while others are still more stable and used as pigments in inks and dyes. Nitric acid is the primary reagent used for nitration – the addition of a nitro group, typically to an organic molecule. Depending on the amount of nitrogen dioxide present, fuming nitric acid is further characterized as red fuming nitric acid at concentrations above 86%, or white fuming nitric acid at concentrations above 95%. When the solution contains more than 86% HNO 3, it is referred to as fuming nitric acid. Most commercially available nitric acid has a concentration of 68% in water. The compound is colorless, but samples tend to acquire a yellow cast over time due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula H N O 3.
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