Lab report on NITROGEN Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

On NITROGEN - Lab Report Example Nitrogen is a diatomic element with an atomic number of seven and weighing approximately 14.0067 amu. It is a nonmetal and is located in group fifteen, period two of the periodic table. It is one of the main elements, which make up all organic compounds. It exists typically in pure form as either a gas or as a liquid at super cooled temperatures. In addition, Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen in 1772. Since its discovery, we have learned that many natural cycles, such as the nitrogen cycle, effect the way in which energy travels through the food chain. The importance of nitrogen in cellular and molecular biology has been emphasized. Industries have taken advantage of nitrogen through processes, such as the Haber process, which is used to create ammonia (Jones 201-2). As mentioned previously, ammonia (NH3) is an important nitrogen-containing compound, which is created industrially. It is used heavily in fertilizers as well as in some foods, medicines, etc. In large amounts, it can be toxic to humans. Trinitrotoluene, otherwise known as TNT, is a very explosive compound including nitrogen. It has widely been used as a common explosive device by both military and civilian groups. One of the reasons it is so highly valued as an explosive is due to it’s insensitivity to factors, which could accidentally detonate it. TNT is very toxic to humans when exposed to any portion of skin or accidentally ingested and can be fatal ("Trinitrotoluene (TNT)"). Lastly, amino acids contain large quantities of nitrogen. Amino acids are the building blocks for proteins, which themselves are the foundation for tissues and all other biological structures. There are twenty different amino acids in which DNA and RNA code for. Understanding the coding and structure of amino acids is especially important in the study of genetics and how to cure genetic disorders which originate from mutations and errors in the coding to create the amino