Discovery - Can Chemistry Save The World? - 2. Fixing the Nitrogen Fix
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Fixing the nitrogen fix. Roland Pease asks whether after a hundred years of the old industrial process, there's a better way of making nitrogen fertilisers.
Roland Pease asks whether, after a hundred years of the old industrial process, there’s a better way of making nitrogen fertilisers.
Nitrogen is one of the most important elements for life, and we’re virtually swimming in it – the atmosphere is four fifths nitrogen gas.
And yet nitrogen is one of the hardest elements for life to capture – it’s a molecule that’s almost completely inert.
Can chemists copy nature’s tricks to ensnare this elusive molecule, using gentle reactions and without harming the environment in the process?
- Broadcast on BBC World Service, 1:32PM Sat, 5 Mar 2011
- Available until 12:00AM Thu, 1 Jan 2099
- First broadcast BBC World Service, 10:32AM Wed, 2 Mar 2011
- Categories
- Duration 28 minutes
