Nitrogen 2

CHEMISTRY SSS2 Second Term

WEEK  7

Nitrogen 2

Performance Objectives

The students should be able to:

1. Give at least three properties of nitrogen
2. List three uses of nitrogen.
3. Explain the nitrogen cycle.

Content

Properties of Nitrogen

The element nitrogen was discovered as a separable component of air by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772. Nitrogen compounds were well known during the Middle Ages. Alchemists knew nitric acid as aqua fortis (strong water). The mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids was known as aqua regia (royal water), celebrated for its ability to dissolve gold (the king of metals). The earliest military, industrial, and agricultural applications of nitrogen compounds used saltpetre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate), most notably in gunpowder and later as…