Smell that ammonia

My favorite reaction is the Haber process, the synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gases. After balancing the reaction (see the section Smell that ammonia, earlier in this chapter), you end up with... 

This is due in the first place to the cost of electric power, which often exceeded the price obtained in selling the manure. Then the nuissance caused by the smell of ammonia in the stall during periods of limited stall ventilation and that caused by vermin, such as mice, flies and beetles. 

The properties of normal ammonium carbonate.—Monohydrated ammonium carbonate forms elongated plates or flattened prisms, which smell of ammonia, and is presumably a product of the decomposition of the normal carbonate the pungent taste also affects the tongue as a caustic. The crystals were analyzed by J. Dalton, who found the composition to be very nearly that required for (NH4)2C03.H20, the products of all the different methods of preparation indicated by E. Divers have the same composition. E. Divers found that when exposed to air, the crystals become moist and opaque, lose ammonia and water, and form ammonium hydrocarbonate (NH4)2C03.H20=NH4HC03-j-H20-j-NH3. The salt thus becomes... 

Pure hydrazine is a poisonous, colorless liquid that smells like ammonia, freezes at 2°C, and boils at 114°C. It is violently explosive in the presence of air or... 

Methylamines are colorless liquids that are volatile at normal atmospheric conditions. They have threshold odor limits of less than 10 ppm, and at low concentrations they have a fishy smell. At high concentrations they smell like ammonia. The physical properties are given in Table 14.1 and Table 14.2. 

A sense as basic as pain could be abolished. In spite of the number of times 1 have seen it, a test procedure we called anosmia to ammonia still amazes me. I would tell a subject that he could no longer smell anything. Then I would hold a bottle of household ammonia an inch under his nose and ask him to take a good sniff. The smell of ammonia is not only a strong smell, it is an extremely painftil sensation, as if your nostrils were set on fire. A talented hypnotic subject would take a deep sniff, while 1 winced. No reaction. No tears would form in his eyes, and he wouldn t jerk his head away or show any other reaction. Did you smell anything. No. ... 

In trying to understand and explain hypnosis, most theorists roughly fall into two general classes, the credulous and the skeptical. The credulous theorists generally take the subject s behavior and reports at close to face value when the subject doesn t react to the sniff of ammonia and reports that he smelled nothing, it is because he smelled nothing. Skeptical theorists see the phenomena of hypnosis as inherently unlikely or impossible, and so view the subject as involved in some sort of pretense he smelled the ammonia and it was painful, but he acted as if he didn t smell it and lied about his experience. 

DMAE (also called deanol, dimethylethanolamine and norcholine) is a small hydrophilic molecule. Its low molecular weight (89.1) allows it to penetrate the skin easily. DMAE is a precursor of acetylcholine (ACh), via choline (Figure 3.9). It is a viscous liquid, as transparent as water, that is often said to smell like ammonia but is in fact more reminiscent of fish long past its sell-by-date. Anchovies, sardines and salmon are important natural sources of DMAE. It is naturally present in the body, and there are traces of it in the brain. DMAE is a very basic molecule (pH 11) that cannot be used in its pure state without the risk of causing chemical skin burns. It must be partially neutralized for use at pH 7. Many derivatives have been used in its place (e.g. DMAE bitartrate or acetamidoben-zoate), but these are more suitable for oral rather than topical use. 

By the way, all these nice, tidy analogies do not extend to the smells possessed by most amines. Whereas alcohols tend to have, at worst, somewhat heavy,. sweetish odors amines, at best, smell like ammonia, and, at worst, richly deserve the common names that have been bestowed upon some of their representatives. Thc.se include names like cadaverinc, putre.scinc, and skatole. Dead fish would be an improvement. 

For those reasons, pH maintenance is more often done with the addition of ammonium hydroxide. Although a weaker base of sodium hydroxide can be used to maintain the pH at 9.5-1-. The good news is, that it evaporates with the water when the shell is dried and does not change the chemistry of the dried refractory. The bad news is, it is lost to the atmosphere and must be replaced frequently. If excess amounts are used then the smell of ammonia fills the air and is unpleasant at best. One of the most satisfactory ways to add ammonia to the slurry by routine water addition needed to compensate for evaporation. In some plants this addition is done in the form of a continuous drip into the slurry. Spot checks and experience allow the operators to adjust the drip rate to keep up with the evaporation rate. This is made easier since the slurry rooms are kept at constant temperature are humidity. 

It is conceivable to see that the leak has occurred, but only at daytime and if the operator looks out of the window or his colleague is on his walk-around. Therefore it is assumed conservatively that the leak is only detected by an increased smell of ammonia. An assessment showed that the threshold of smell perception is reached in the control room after about 5 min. 

As already mentioned the smell of ammonia becomes so strong after five minutes that the operator who works permanently in the control room (main operator) might diagnose it to be caused by a leak. It is estimated that the... 

It is very unlikely that metals other than sodium, potassium and magnesium will be present, although calcium or barium may be found. Determine the ash content. If there is no ash, no metals are present. Boil a sample with a little sodium carbonate. If the solution remains clear, magnesium and other alkaline-earth metals are absent. If it smells of ammonia, an ammonium salt is present. 

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