. Review of reviews and world's work . Kristian Birkeland and Dr. Samuel Eyde werethe first to succeed commercially in making nitric acidfrom the nitrogen of the air. They used an electricarc, which, by means of a magnet, they spread out un-til it was bigger than a cart-wheel) THE CHEMIST AND THE FOOD PROBLEM 297 of nitrogen, and the rain has con-veyed it to the earth below. Millions,possibly billions, of such Storms inprimeval ages, helped to furnish theearth witlr the nitrogen that it nowyields to green leaves and forest ani-mals. One way of fixing nitrogen is toimitate nature. So, the scien
. Review of reviews and world's work . Kristian Birkeland and Dr. Samuel Eyde werethe first to succeed commercially in making nitric acidfrom the nitrogen of the air. They used an electricarc, which, by means of a magnet, they spread out un-til it was bigger than a cart-wheel) THE CHEMIST AND THE FOOD PROBLEM 297 of nitrogen, and the rain has con-veyed it to the earth below. Millions,possibly billions, of such Storms inprimeval ages, helped to furnish theearth witlr the nitrogen that it nowyields to green leaves and forest ani-mals. One way of fixing nitrogen is toimitate nature. So, the scientists havedeveloped methods ot applying elec-tricity. How does the lightning flashreduce the nitrogen ? The laboratoryanswers. It is not the electricity thatovercomes the inertness of the gas,but the heat generated by the light-ning flash. Nitrogen must be is one way of fixing it. Butthe heat required is so intense, meas-ured as it is by thousands of degrees,that only electricity can generate it. LIGHTNING IN THE FACTORY. What is wanted, then, is a continu-ous, artificial thunderstorm, some-thing that lasts not for a fraction of asecond but for hours and even days,something in the nature of an electricfurnace so designed that it burns airand with it nitrogen, in enormousquantities. Nitric oxide is the namegiven to this burned nitrogen. With the aidof water it can be transformed into nitricacid, which in turn can be changed into asolid nitrate upon which a plant can feed. The whole problem of reducing nitrogenelectrically resolves itself into the burningof as much air as possible in a given time. Photograph from E. I. du Pent de Nemours & FAMOUS RJUKAN FALLS NITRATE PLANT. IN NORWAY (The cheapest water power in the world is to be found inNorway and Sweden; hence they are the only countries in whicha commercially successful electric nitrate industry has been de-veloped. The illustration shows how the water is brought fromabove the falls, through ten five-foot p
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