26 EEDUCTION OF ALKALI NITRITE BY AN 



no action whatever upon a solution of sodium hyponitrite 

 saturated with sodium hydroxide, even when heated to 80" (and 

 no doubt higher), and for days together; no hydroxylamine, 

 ammonia, nitrogen, or hydrogen is produced. In weaker alka- 

 line solutions, hydrogen is very slowly produced, but still 

 without any effect upon the hyponitrite. Weakly alkaline 

 solutions of sodium hyponitrite slowly decompose of themselves, 

 and then some of the nitrous oxide may possibly get reduced 

 by the sodium amalgam, (see p. 31). 



As for the nitrogen, it is evident that only while nitrous 

 oxide remains in solution and comes in contact with the amal- 

 gam, can it be reduced, even if it is then (see p. 31). Yet, in order 

 to get much nitrogen in place of nitrous oxide, it is necessary 

 to work with hot solutions, when the solubility of nitrous oxide 

 is at its lowest. It is not essential that the nitrite should be 

 in small proportion to the sodium, temperature alone appears 

 to be the condition determining the replacement of nitrous 

 oxide by nitrogen. In other words, weak solutions of nitrite 

 and excess of amalgam in no degree favour the production of 

 nitrogen rather than of nitrous oxide, and nitrogen does not 

 prevail more in the gases escaping near the end of a reduction 

 than near its beginning. 



Very different is it with ammonia, truly a product of 

 reduction of hydroxylamine (in non-acid solution), the forma- 

 tion of which takes place principally during the final action of 

 the amalgam. Against the notion, highly improbable as it is, 

 that the nitrogen may come from yet existent nitrite and 

 already formed ammonia, which would also account for the 

 comparative absence of ammonia in the earlier part of the 

 reduction, there may be adduced de Wilde's observation that 



