JOURNAL 



OF THE 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Vol. VIII JUNE 19, 1918 No. 12 



CHEMISTRY. — The nitrogen problem in relation to the ivarJ 

 Arthur A. Notes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 

 Chairman of the Committee on Nitrate Investigations, 

 National Research Council. (Communicated by L. J. 

 Briggs.) 



The subject with which I am to deal is so vast that it is im- 

 practicable to present more than a brief survey of it. I shall not 

 attempt to go into technical details, but shall rather attempt 

 to give you a general view of the situation, and a brief descrip- 

 tion of the various methods we have for meeting the demand for 

 nitrogen compounds and of the principles which are involved in 

 those methods. 



You all realize the vital importance of an adequate supply of 

 nitrogen compounds, particularly of nitric acid and ammonia, 

 in ensuring our success in this war. From nitric acid are made 

 all the important explosives such as smokeless powder, picric 

 acid, ordinary black powder, dynamite, trinitrotoluol, and 

 ammonium nitrate. This last has recently come into the greatest 

 prominence as one of the most important and valuable of our 

 explosives. In fact, it is reported that the Minister of Muni- 

 tions of England has said that this war must be won with am- 

 monium nitrate, as no other explosive can be produced in quantity 

 adequate to meet the enormous demands of the Allied armies in 



^ Report of a lecture given before a joint meeting of the Washington Academy 

 of Sciences and the Chemical Society of Washington on May 15, 1918. 



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