Lecture notes Alchemy of Air after reading the introduction.

Nitrogen: nitrogen is the most common element in our atmosphere (three-quarters of the atmosphere); unfortunately, it is in the unusable form of N2. All living things rely on Nitrogen to grow. There are only two ways to get N from air to usable form: lightning and legumes. They are both slow and difficult ways of fixing Nitrogen. This book tells of the process of turning N2 into NH3 which is ammonia. 1 Nitrogen atom bonded with 3 Hydrogen atoms.

Nitrogen is why fertilizer makes plants grow. The waste products of living organisms are high in Nitrogen. Birds and bats have especially high concentrations of Nitrogen, so the poop of birds and bats makes for good fertilizer. This is a way to put Nitrogen back into depleted soil.

The Earth using the best agricultural methods (no artificial fertilizers) could sustain around 4 billion people. We currently have over 7 billion living on the planet. 3 billion=dead.

Main characters that you will be introduced to early on that are important to the story: Fritz Haber: Jewish scientist who developed the Haber-Bosch process. He is a somewhat flamboyant, attention-seeking person who loves the spotlight and wants very much the respect of his peers. Carl Bosch: Habers near opposite in temperament. He is quiet, hard-working, and strongly anti-Nazi who goes on to run one of the factories that fuels the Nazi empire.

Sir William Crookes: president of the British academy of sciences gives a lecture in 1898 predicting mass starvation if a solution to the fertilizer problem isnt found.

Walther Nernst: famous and well-respected German scientist who insults Fritz Haber. This becomes the catalyst for Haber to figure out the problem of fixing nitrogen and developing ammonia.

Questions for some further consideration?

Why does this happen in Germany? Why can people use materials correctly? What the writer of this question means I think refers to page xiii But we are also subjecting. Why is fertilizer important? Malthus and Paul Ehrlich. Is fertilizer the only solution?

Review Sections:

I. II. III.

The Ends of the Earth: It is titled this because that is what it is about. The section begins with mass starvation prophecy and concludes with the guano wars. The Philosophers Stone: The search for the nitrogen fixing process. Syn: In chemistry syn is an addition which forms a double bond or triple bond.