Nitric scid
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Some people say that without these two chemical processes, WW1 might never have happened at all. Without question, the Haber-Bosch process for turning N 2 into NH 3, combined with the Ostwald process for turning NH 3 into nitric acid, permitted Germany to continue making explosives, and extended the war for many years. By 1913, the German chemical giant BASF (Badische Aniline und Soda Fabrik) had a plant operating in Ludwigshaven-Oppau, Germany making ammonia at the rate of 30 metric tons per day. When hostilities began, the shipping routes to Germany across the Atlantic were blocked, and Germany needed a new method to make nitric acid.Ĭoincidentally, again just before WW1 started, another German chemist, Fritz Haber, had found a method to turn inert nitrogen gas from air into ammonia. In fact, most of the nitrates were only available from guano, which is the droppings of fish-eating sea birds, and is found in large quantities on the islands off the coast of Peru. This is because previously Germany had no nitrate deposits of its own from which to make the nitric acid that was essential for the production of the explosives used in artillery shells, such as TNT and nitroglycerine. The Ostwald process was discovered just in time for the First World War, and it contributed greatly to the extended length of that war. This is then oxidised to NO 2, which is then dissolved in water to make HNO 3. This process reacts together O 2 and ammonia NH 3 at 850☌ and 5 atmospheres pressure, with the help of platinum and rhodium catalysts, to make NO gas. It is made from ammonia by the Ostwald Process which was developed in 1902 by the German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald (below, left), who got the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1909. Nitric acid (HNO 3) is an extremely important chemical used in the manufacture of fertilisers and explosives. Two chemical processes that indirectly led to World War 1 NITRIC ACID The starting point for explosives and fertilisers" Nitric Acid - Molecule of the Month - November 2007 - HTML only version