Nitric Acid And Its Various Purposes and Dangers In Our Environment

Highly corrosive and colorless (or yellowish when concentrated), nitric acid is commonly produced by heating potassium nitrate with sulfuric acid. It was in 1776 when it was determined that it contained oxygen and that was courtesy of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier. Its chemical composition was eventually established in 1816 by Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Claude-Louis Berthollet.

But more than the technical terms and scientists associated with it, we should look at how this kind of acid is used in our society. One of its primary uses is in the production of fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate. Thus, it plays a role in agriculture and plant industry, which further play important roles in the production of food. The substance is also commonly used in the jewelry industry. The substance, when combined with hydrochloric acid, forms Aqua Regia which is one of those few reagents that have the capability to dissolve important metals such as gold and platinum. Moreover, in between 1940 and 1965, it was often used as an oxidizer in liquid-propellant rocket engines.

The chemical substance is also used in:

1. the manufacture of explosives such as trinitrotoluene (T.N.T);
2. the manufacture of nitrate salts in the likes of calcium nitrate and silver nitrate;
3. the production of dyes, perfumes, fungicides, and certain drugs;
4. etching designs on copper, brass, and bronze wear; and
5. reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels.

Together with the various uses of the chemical product is the question regarding how it can affect the environment and our health, for that matter. Well, it may get into the environment as a breakdown of nitrogen dioxide. As you might have already known, nitrogen dioxide is one common pollutant from industrial and commercial processes. The pollutant can readily form nitric acid, in the presence of water. Because of the chemical product

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