VIII 



THE SUPPLY OF NITROGEN PRODUCTS FOR 

 THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVES 



ARTHUR A. NOYES 



AN adequate supply of nitrogen compounds, particularly of 

 nitric acid and ammonia, was of vital importance in en- 

 suring victory in the war. From nitric acid are made all the 

 important explosives, smokeless powder, picric acid, trinitro- 

 toluol, ordinary black powder, dynamite, and ammonium ni- 

 trate. The last of these materials, the simplest of them all, 

 came during the war into the greatest prominence as one of 

 the most important explosives. In fact, one of the leading 

 munition authorities of England declared that the war could 

 be won only with ammonium nitrate, as no other explosive 

 could be produced in quantity adequate to meet the enormous 

 demands of the Allied armies. This development of the use 

 of ammonium nitrate brought about a heavy demand for am- 

 monia; so that while in the early stages of the war our chief 

 concern was an adequate supply of nitric acid, we soon became 

 no less interested in a sufficient and ample production of am- 

 monia. 



Of these two nitrogen compounds there are only three im- 

 portant sources. 



The first source is Chile saltpeter, or sodium nitrate, which 

 is found in a natural state in the dry regions of Chile, and 

 which until recently furnished the total supply of nitric acid 

 of the world. We depended for our own nitric acid supply 

 at the beginning of the war wholly upon the Chilean imports. 



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