. The agricultural gazette of New South Wales. Agriculture; Agriculture -- Australia New South Wales. Nov. 2, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of 871 1. Manufacture of Atmospheric Nitrates. 1 JlKKELAND-EVDE In October, last year, Professor Thompson, in an article in The WorUrs Work, entitled, "When wheat fails," shows how electricity may be utilised to produce the new fertilising agent, nitrate, with the object of ensuring the continuance of an adequate supply of grain. That nitric acid can be generated by the chemical combination of nitrcjgen and oxygen, by means of an e
. The agricultural gazette of New South Wales. Agriculture; Agriculture -- Australia New South Wales. Nov. 2, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of 871 1. Manufacture of Atmospheric Nitrates. 1 JlKKELAND-EVDE In October, last year, Professor Thompson, in an article in The WorUrs Work, entitled, "When wheat fails," shows how electricity may be utilised to produce the new fertilising agent, nitrate, with the object of ensuring the continuance of an adequate supply of grain. That nitric acid can be generated by the chemical combination of nitrcjgen and oxygen, by means of an electric spark, has been a known fact for more than a century, but the production of nitrates on a scale which promises to be of commercial advantage is a scientific achievement of very recent date, and Professor Thompson explains the processes. Ten years ago certain experiments Sir William Crooke was making in this direction strongly suggested a possible solution of the food problem. He came to the conclusion that if the supply of electric energy could be generated at a cost of 1-17 of a Id. per unit (, per kilowatt hour), nitrate of soda could be manufactured at £-5 per ton. Chilian saltpetre, nearly 7-5 per cent, of the output of which is used for manuring wheat-fields, sells at the present time at more than double this price. Since the time of Crooke's experiments, the fixing of atmospheric nitrogen has become an accom23lished fact; in Scotland and Germany in connection with raining products ; and, finally, in Norway a factory has been success- fully established where, under the name of Norwegian saltpetre, nitrates are directly produced from the atmosphere on a commercial scale. Discoveries made by Professor Kristian Birkeland in the course of certain investigations. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the
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