Rutherford removed the oxygen from air by having a mouse breathe it until
it died
then burning a candle and phosphorus in it until they
wouldn’t burn
then passing what remained through a solution to absorb the
fixed air
and he called the air that remained
noxious air.
*
Scheele, Cavendish, and Priestley called it burnt air or
phlogisticated air.
Antoine Lavoisier called it mephitic air or
azote,
which means “lifeless,” because animals
died in it.
Atomic number 7
Over three-quarters of the atmosphere on Earth
is nitrogen
but in the atmosphere it is an inert triple-bonded
diatomic gas.
All amino acids essential in human nutrition
contain nitrogen
and nitrogen is also required for our
DNA.
To get this nitrogen we depend
on plants.
Plants also depend on nitrigen and use
an enzyme
to cleave diatomic nitrogen to make ammonia
or nitrate.
*
The energy it takes to cleave diatomic
nitrogen
is stored in atomic nitrogen or nitrogen compounds
and available
for cleaners, fertilizer, poisons, rocket fuel,
and explosives.
Stuff that explodes
Stuff that explodes can be a shock.
Some don’t remember what happened to them
even though they must live with the damage.
The roots of violence are deep, but easy to uncover.
Famine, war, genocide, persecution, religious extremism
are the damage, not the stuff that explodes.
I wish I could claim that victims
and perpetrators of ignorance, hatred, and greed
might learn to live in a state of grace.
Humankind already has prescriptions and proscriptions for peace.
Apparently, that’s not enough.
Gradually, our activities have been poisoning our soil and water
with nitrates and nitrites,
which have damaging effects on our health.
Humankind already has prescriptions and proscriptions for peace. Apparently, that’s not enough. Gradually, our activities have been poisoning our soil and water with nitrates and nitrites, which have damaging effects on our health.
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