Nitrogen Trivia Quiz

Answer: native soda forming

Gr. Nitron, native soda; and genes, forming

Answer: False

It is actually the most plentiful, at 78.1% by volume. Oxygen (O2) is second at 21%.

Answer: deuterium

Deuterium is actually hydrogen-2 -- hydrogen with a neutron in the nucleus. Burnt air came from the fact that pure nitrogen won't support combustion. Noxious air was the name given to the gas by Daniel Rutherford, credited with discovering nitrogen in 1772. The French chemist Antoine Lavoisier named nitrogen azote, meaning without life.

Answer: Carbon-14 is formed from nitrogen-14

When an energetic neutron hits a nitrogen-14 atom's nucleus, it stays and knocks a proton out of the nucleus. This produces a carbon-14 atom and a hydrogen-1 atom (protium), the former being radioactive with a half-life of 5730 years. This process in on-going, so that there's a constant percentage of carbon-14 in the environment, including living organisms.

But once an organism dies, the carbon-14 in its body is not replenished. After 5730 years, about half of the carbon-14 in the dead organism has beta-decayed back into nitrogen-14; after 11460 years, 3/4 is decayed. Every 5730 years, 50% of the remaining carbon-14 will have decayed. By measuring how much is left, scientists can determine the age of organic materials up to about 60,000 years.

Answer: fix

Animals then eat the plants, hence incorporating the nitrogen (mainly as proteins). The nitrogen cycle is then complete when the animals excrete nitrogen compounds and other bacteria act on them and release nitrogen gas back into the atmosphere.

Answer: non-metals

Non-metals are the elements in groups 14-16 of the periodic table. Non-metals are not able to conduct electricity or heat very well. Non-metallic elements are very brittle as solids, and cannot be rolled into wires or pounded into sheets. They exist in two of the three states of matter at room temperature: gases and solids.

The non-metals have no metallic luster, and do not reflect light. They have oxidation numbers of ±4, -3, and -2.

Answer: gas lasers

Ammonia is also used in the production of urea, NH2CONH2, which is used as a fertilizer, used in the plastic industry, and used in the livestock industry as a feed supplement. Ammonia is often the starting compound for many other nitrogen compounds.

Answer: saltpeters

In certain dry areas of the world these saltpeters are found in quantity and are used as fertilizers. BTW, alloys are mixtures of metals, amalgams are mercury alloys, and hydrates are solid compounds combined with a specific ratio of water molecules.

Answer: proteins

Proteins are a group of organic macromolecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and usually sulfur and are composed of one or more chains of amino acids. Alcohols are any of a series of hydroxyl compounds, including ethanol and methanol. Fats are he ester of glycerol and one, two, or three fatty acids. Carbohydrates are organic compounds that only contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in the ratio 1:2:1.

Answer: False

There's only 2.6% nitrogen in Mars's air, compared to Earth's 78.1%. This is overlooked in the Tim Burton film "Mars Attacks!". The Martians in this film wear helmets in our air or chew "nitrogen gum". But since Earth has an abundance of nitrogen, these wouldn't be necessary. (But what the heck, it's just a silly movie.)