ELEMENT

The French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier named nitrogen azotes, meaning without

 life. However, nitrogen compounds are found in foods, fertilizers, poisons, an

d explosives. Nitrogen, as a gas is colorless, odorless, and generally considered 

an inert element. As a liquid (boiling point = minus 195.8oC), it is also colorless a

nd odorless, and is similar in appearance to water. Nitrogen gas can be prepared by

 heating a water solution of ammonium nitrite (NH4NO3).

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