AMMONIA (NH3). Salts of ammonia have been known from very early times; thus the term Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxi. 39), although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal-ammoniac (q.v.). In the form of sal-ammoniac, ammonia was known, however, to the alchemist?s as early as the 13th century, being mentioned by Albertus Magnus, while in the 15th century Basil Valentine showed that ammonia could be obtained by the action of alkalies on sal-ammoniac. At a later period when sal-ammoniac was obtained by distilling the hoofs and horns of oxen, and neutralizing the resulting carbonate with hydrochloric acid, the name spirits of hartshorn was applied to ammonia. Gaseous ammonia was first isolated by J. Priestley in 1774 and was termed by him "alkaline air." In 1777 Karl Wilhelm Scheele showed that it contained nitrogen, and C. L. Berthollet, in about 1785, ascertained its composition. |
AMMONIA: http://wiki.rozeta.com.pl/img/taw/amoniak.png Salts of ammonia have been known from very early times; thus the term Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxi. 39), although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal-ammoniac (q.v.). In the form of sal-ammoniac, ammonia was known, however, to the alchemist?s as early as the 13th century, being mentioned by Albertus Magnus, while in the 15th century Basil Valentine showed that ammonia could be obtained by the action of alkalies on sal-ammoniac. At a later period when sal-ammoniac was obtained by distilling the hoofs and horns of oxen, and neutralizing the resulting carbonate with hydrochloric acid, the name spirits of hartshorn was applied to ammonia. Gaseous ammonia was first isolated by J. Priestley in 1774 and was termed by him "alkaline air." In 1777 Karl Wilhelm Scheele showed that it contained nitrogen, and C. L. Berthollet, in about 1785, ascertained its composition. |
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