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News tagged with nitrogen

Discovery of new molecule can lead to more efficient rocket fuel

Trinitramid – that's the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20-30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels we have today. ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Dec 23, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (27) | comments 28 | with audio podcast

Laser sparks revolution in internal combustion engines

For more than 150 years, spark plugs have powered internal combustion engines. Automakers are now one step closer to being able to replace this long-standing technology with laser igniters, which will enable cleaner, more ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 20, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (27) | comments 34 | with audio podcast

Innovative superconductor fibers carry 40 times more electricity

Wiring systems powered by highly-efficient superconductors have long been a dream of science, but researchers have faced such practical challenges such as finding pliable and cost-effective materials. Now ...

Physics / Superconductivity

created Sep 07, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (23) | comments 23 | with audio podcast

Diamonds and the holy grail of quantum computing

Since Richard Feynman's first envisioned the quantum computer in 1982, there have been many studies of potential candidates -- computers that use quantum bits, or qubits, capable of holding an more than one value at a time ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jun 29, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (23) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Atomic weights of 10 elements on periodic table about to make an historic change

For the first time in history, a change will be made to the atomic weights of some elements listed on the Periodic table of the chemical elements posted on walls of chemistry classrooms and on the inside covers ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Dec 15, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (23) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Pair claim they can make ammonia to fuel cars for just 20 cents per liter

(PhysOrg.com) -- John Fleming of SilverEagles Energy and Tim Maxwell from Texas Tech University, say they have developed a way to make ammonia that is cheap enough so that it could be used as fuel for cars. If th ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Sep 05, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (22) | comments 41 | with audio podcast weblog

Russians hope to reach Lake Vostok for the first time soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Lake Vostok, an untouched lake in Antarctica, is soon to be reached for the first time. Russian scientists are drilling down to the oxygen-rich lake, which is buried beneath a sheet of ice ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 10, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 17 | with audio podcast report

Water-splitting Photocatalyst Brought to Light

(PhysOrg.com) -- To produce "green" fuels, some scientists are looking for a little help from above. Sunlight is the key ingredient in photocatalytic water splitting, a process that breaks down water into ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jun 16, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (18) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Zapping Titan-like atmosphere with UV rays creates life precursors

The first experimental evidence showing how atmospheric nitrogen can be incorporated into organic macromolecules is being reported by a University of Arizona team.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 29, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (17) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover particle which could 'cool the planet'

In a breakthrough paper published in Science, researchers from The University of Manchester, The University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories report the potentially revolutionary effects of Criegee biradicals.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (19) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Fire ants assemble as a 'super-organism' (w/ video)

The ants may go marching one by one, but they end up forming a superstructure of thousands -- and together they can form a raft that stretches the boundaries of the laws of physics, according to new research ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 25, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (16) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

City lights make air pollution worse

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by scientists in Los Angeles, California has found that bright city lights makes air pollution worse because the glare of the lights interferes with chemical reactions that clean ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 16, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (15) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Climate change helps then quickly stunts growth, decade-long study shows

(Phys.org) -- Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long, according to new research conducted at Northern Arizona University.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 10, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (18) | comments 163 | with audio podcast

When the speed of light depends on its direction

Light does not travel at the same speed in all directions under the effect of an electromagnetic field. Although predicted by theory, this counter-intuitive effect has for the first time been demonstrated ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 13, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 27 | with audio podcast

Switching from coal to natural gas would do little for global climate, study indicates

Although the burning of natural gas emits far less carbon dioxide than coal, a new study concludes that a greater reliance on natural gas would fail to significantly slow down climate change. The study appears ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 08, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (13) | comments 51 | with audio podcast

Nitrogen

Nitrogen (pronounced /ˈnaɪtrədʒɨn/) is a chemical element that has the symbol N and atomic number 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78% by volume of Earth's atmosphere.

Many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates (propellants and explosives), and cyanides, contain nitrogen. The extremely strong bond in elemental nitrogen dominates nitrogen chemistry, causing difficulty for both organisms and industry in converting the N2 into useful compounds, and releasing large amounts of energy when these compounds burn or decay back into nitrogen gas.

The element nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford, a Scottish physician, in 1772. Nitrogen occurs in all living organisms. It is a constituent element of amino acids and thus of proteins, and of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). It resides in the chemical structure of almost all neurotransmitters, and is a defining component of alkaloids, biological molecules produced by many organisms.

For more information about Nitrogen, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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