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Nitrogen (N)
 Nitrogen – Nitrogen is inert in the air; but when it forms compounds in the soil, it is an invaluable source of nourishment for plants – as shown in the fertiliser stick.
 Nitrogen – Nitrogen is an unreactive substance unless a large amount of energy is used. This shows the combustion of ammonium dichromate, a nitrogen-containing compound.
Nickel (Ni)
Element 28 on the periodic table. A silvery, hard, magnetic transition metal element.
Nickel is similar to iron in many of its properties, but it reacts more slowly and resists corrosion. It was discovered in 1751 by
a Swedish chemist, Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt.
It is one of the main metals
in ‘silver’ coins. However, the jeweller’s ‘nickel silver’ contains no silver at all. Nickel is widely used in alloys.
An alloy of nickel and iron produces stainless steel. It is also used as a protective coating on steel.
Niobium (Nb)
Element 41 on the periodic table. A soft, easily shaped (malleable) metal belonging to the transition metals.
Niobium looks like steel, but seems more like platinum when polished. It is used in alloys, in particular in some stainless steels to provide extra strength. It was first discovered in 1801 by the English chemist Charles Hatchett.
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Nitrogen (N)
Element 7 on the periodic table. An inert, colourless, odourless and tasteless gas, and non-metallic element of group 5 (the nitrogen group).
It is the most common element in the atmosphere and found in all living matter.
Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford in 1772. The French chemist Antoine Lavoisier named it azote because no living thing could survive in it (from the Greek word meaning ‘no life’). This term is still used in French. The name ‘nitrogen’ was coined in 1790 after a common mineral then know as nitre (potassium nitrate) from ‘nitre’ and ‘-gen’, meaning ‘nitre-forming’.
Nitrogen is the sixth most common element in the universe. It makes up over three-quarters of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Nitrogen is removed (fixed) from the atmosphere by bacteria living on the roots of some plants such
as peas, usually called legumes. Animals then get nitrogen for
their tissues by eating vegetable or animal proteins.
Nitrogen is made by liquefying air. It is widely used to keep
air away from food during food preparation. Freeze-drying is done in an atmosphere of nitrogen.
Oxides of nitrogen are poisonous. Nitrogen dioxide is one of the main pollutants of the atmosphere and a producer of ground-level ozone.