News tagged with nitrate
A genetic alternative to fertilizer
Several studies have shown that a lack of nitrogen in soils adversely affects crop yields. The modern use of nitrogen fertilizers has improved yields to meet expanding global food demand, but in some cases ...
Jun 01, 2012 |
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Graphene's 'Big Mac' creates next generation of chips
The world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material, discovered in 2004 at the University of Manchester by Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov, has the potential to revolutionize material ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 09, 2011 |
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Metamaterials may advance with new femtosecond laser technique
Researchers in applied physics have cleared an important hurdle in the development of advanced materials, called metamaterials, that bend light in unusual ways.
Mar 08, 2012 |
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Solar power generation around the clock
(PhysOrg.com) -- A Californian company, SolarReserve, is developing a solar power system that can store seven hours' worth of solar energy by focusing mirrors onto millions of gallons of molten salt, allowing ...
New study sheds light on evolutionary origin of oxygen-based cellular respiration
Researchers at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center in Harima, Japan, have clarified the crystal structure of quinol dependent nitric oxide reductase (qNOR), a bacterial enzyme that offers clues on the origins of our ...
Jan 22, 2012 |
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Beetroot juice boosts stamina, new study shows
(PhysOrg.com) -- Drinking beetroot juice boosts your stamina and could help you exercise for up to 16% longer. A University of Exeter led-study, published today, shows for the first time how the nitrate contained ...
Aug 06, 2009 |
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Researchers discover source of essential nutrients for mid-ocean algae
For almost three decades, oceanographers have been puzzled by the ability of microscopic algae to grow in mid-ocean areas where there is very little nitrate, an essential algal nutrient. In this week's issue ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 23, 2010 |
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Nitrogen in the soil cleans the air
Eutrophication harms the environment in many ways. Unexpectedly, nitrogen fertilizer may also be positive for the environment. And even acidic soils, promoting the destruction of forests, can have a positive ...
Aug 19, 2011 |
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Nitrate levels rising in northwestern Pacific ocean: study
Changes in the ratio of nitrate to phosphorus in the oceans off the coasts of Korea and Japan caused by atmospheric and riverine pollutants may influence the makeup of marine plants and influence marine ecology, according ...
Sep 22, 2011 |
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Want more efficient muscles? Eat your spinach
(PhysOrg.com) -- After taking a small dose of inorganic nitrate for three days, healthy people consume less oxygen while riding an exercise bike. A new study in the February issue of Cell Metabolism traces ...
Feb 01, 2011 |
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From decade to decade: What's the status of our groundwater quality?
There was no change in concentrations of chloride, dissolved solids, or nitrate in groundwater for more than 50 percent of well networks sampled in a new analysis by the USGS that compared samples from 1988-2000 to samples ...
Apr 30, 2012 |
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Biodiversity improves water quality in streams through a division of labor
Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is ...
Apr 06, 2011 |
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Lionfish invasion continuing to expand
Their numbers continue to expand. They are spreading throughout the Caribbean Sea. Eradication appears almost impossible. Even limited amounts of control will be extremely difficult, and right now the best ...
Apr 19, 2010 |
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New climate-cooling molecule found
Scientists have succeeded in detecting and analyzing a new atmospheric molecule whose existence has long been suspected but never proved.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 16, 2012 |
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Nitrate in drinking water poses health risks for rural Californians
One in 10 people living in California's most productive agricultural areas is at risk for harmful levels of nitrate contamination in their drinking water, according to a report released today by the University of California, ...
Mar 13, 2012 |
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Nitrate
The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO− 3 and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a formal charge of -1. This results from a combination formal charge in which each of the three oxygens carries a −2⁄3 charge, whereas the nitrogen carries a +1 charge, all these adding up to formal charge of the polyatomic nitrate ion.
This arrangement is commonly used as an example of resonance. Like the isoelectronic carbonate ion, the nitrate ion can be represented by resonance structures:
Almost all inorganic nitrate salts are soluble in water at standard temperature and pressure. A common example of an inorganic nitrate salt is potassium nitrate (saltpetre).
In organic chemistry a nitrate (not to be confused with nitro) is a functional group with general chemical formula RONO2 where R stands for any organic residue. They are the esters of nitric acid and alcohols formed by nitroxylation. Examples are methyl nitrate formed by reaction of methanol and nitric acid, the nitrate of tartaric acid, and the inaccurately-named nitroglycerin (which is actually an organic nitrate compound, not a nitro compound).
Like organic nitro compounds (see below) both organic and inorganic nitrates can be used as propellants and explosives. An example of the use of inorganic nitrate was classical gunpowder. In all these uses the thermal decomposition of the nitrate yields molecular nitrogen N2 gas plus considerable chemical energy, due to the high strength of the bond in molecular nitrogen. Especially in inorganic nitrate reactions, oxidation from the nitrate oxygens is also an important energy-releasing process.
For more information about Nitrate, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.