2a2 Science Blog: Science Assignment by Lim Zheng XIang 2A2 (22)

Science Assignment

I am going to use nitrogen oxide as the harmful compound I am going to post on in this science blog. Nitrogen oxide, as seen from its name, is formed when Nitrogen and Oxygen, 2 harmless elements react chemically together.

Nitrogen Oxide is a harmful gas which pollutes our air and when it is dissolved in Rain water, it forms Acid Rain which is also harmful. Breathing in high levels of Nitrogen Oxide can lead to: swelling of throat, reduced oxygen intake, and/or death. It also contributes to Global Warming and hampers the growth of plants which also indirectly affects humans too. Nitrogen oxide can form with other pollutants to form toxic chemicals. Nitrogen Oxide, plus other ground-level ozone, can cause other major respiratory problems in high levels.

When Oxygen and Nitrogen react chemically together to form Nitrogen Oxide, the chemical bonding which occurs is a covalent bond as both oxygen and nitrogen are non-metals and that the electrons between the 2 elements are shared.

As you all know, Nitrogen Is used by plants when soil particles convert them into a form in which it is safe for the plants to use whereas the air we breathe in everyday consists of Oxygen. Thus both gases(or elements) are harmless. But when they react chemically together, they produce a harmful gas which is nitrogen oxide.

Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7, belongs to group V and has an atomic mass of 14.00674. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere. It is created by fusion processes in stars, and is estimated to be the 7th most abundant chemical element by mass in the universe. Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. It belongs to Group VI in the periodic table and has an atomic mass of 15.9994. It constitutes about 1/5 or 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere. Nitrogen Oxide is formed when certain fuels (oil, gas and coal) are burned at a high temperature, such as combustion. Thermal Nitrogen Oxide is produced during the combustion process when nitrogen and oxygen are present at elevated temperatures. The two elements combine to form NO or NO₂. Nitrogen Oxide is generated by many combustion processes too. Nitrogen Oxide is also formed from the plants that manufacture explosives.