ACTION OF POTASSIUM ON AMMONIA. JTjJ 



Is the gas, that appears to possess the properties of hidro- 

 gen, a new species of inflammable aeriform substance ? 



Or has nitrogen a metallic bas'13, which alloys with the iron 

 or platina ? 



Or is water alike the ponderable matter of nitrogen, hi- 

 drogen, and oxigen ? 



Or is nitrogen a compound of hidrogen with a larger pro- 

 portion of oxigen than exists in water ? 



These important questions, the two first of which seem 

 the least likely to be answered in the affirmative, from the 

 correspondence between the weight of the ammonia decom- 

 posed and the products, supposing them to be known sub- 

 stances, I shall use every effort to solve by new labours, and 

 I hope soon to be able to communicate the results of farther 

 experiments on the subject to the Society. 



As the inquiry now stands, it is however sufficiently de- Ammonia de- 

 monstrative, that the opinion, which I had ventured to form composed in 

 respecting the decomposition of ammonia in this experi- merit, and pot- 

 ment, is correct; and that M. M. Gay Lussac's and The- ^"^ J, 

 nard's idea of the decomposition of the potassium, and their hidrogen and 

 theory of its being compounded of hidrogen and potash, are potab * 

 unfounded. 



For a considerable part of the potassium is recovered un- 

 altered, and in the entire decomposition of the fusible sub- 

 stance, there is only a small excess of hidrogen above that 

 existing in the ammonia acted upon. 



The mere phenomena of the process likewise, if minutely 

 examined, prove the same thing. 



After the first slight effervescence, owing to the water ab- 

 sorbed by the potash formed upon the potassium during its 

 exposure to the air, the operation proceeds with the greatest 

 tranquillity. No elastic fluid is given off from the potassium ; q 



it often appears covered with the olive coloured substance, 

 and, if it were evolving hidrogen, this must pass through the 

 fluid ; but even to the end of the Operation, no such ap- 

 pearance occurs. 



The crystallized and spongy substance, formed in the 

 first part of the process, I am inclined to consider as a com- 

 bination of ammonia and potassium, for it emits a smell of 



ammonia 



