Word: nitric
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Stored Sunlight. Scientists have long known that sunlight striking the atmosphere 60 miles above the earth breaks two-atom oxygen molecules (62) into single oxygen atoms. Normally the single atoms recombine when they come into contact with nitric oxide as a catalyst. Since there is only a tiny trace of this gas in the high atmosphere, they recombine slowly, releasing enough energy in the process to produce a hardly perceptible glow in the night...
Taking this knowledge into the laboratory, a team of Air Force scientists led by Dr. Murray Zelikoff proved that small additions of nitric oxide can quickly unlock the energy stored in atomized oxygen. To test their conclusions on the atmospheric scale, they loaded steel cylinders containing 20 Ibs. of nitric oxide into the Aerobee, which triggered Holloman's celestial show at the 60-mile level...
Nobody knows how much energy is stored in the layer of atomic oxygen, but since the supply is renewed every day by sunlight, it should be inexhaustible. This opens up some interesting possibilities. In an earlier experiment the Cambridge men discovered that when nitric oxide is re leased in daytime, it is acted upon by sunlight and forms a dense cloud of electrified particles that reflect radio waves as a mirror reflects light. A few such reflectors properly spaced around the curve of the earth might support new kinds of long-range communication. Rockets fired at night might illuminate large...
Self-Fueled Missiles. A more exciting possibility is that the newly discovered reaction could be used to propel missiles or even aircraft. Nitric oxide may not be the only catalyst that works. The scientists speculate that some solid catalyst might be made into a tube or a honeycomb. When carried swiftly by a rocket through the upper air, it would swallow great volumes of atomic oxygen and make it combine into O2 molecules...
...tore up lampposts, ripped down fences. They smashed statues of Mahatma Gandhi (a Gujarati himself), burned Desai in effigy, flourished pictures of Nehru hung with old shoes as a gesture of despisal. Mobs, sometimes 10,000 strong, stormed police stations, looted Gujarati shops, flung electric light bulbs filled with nitric acid in the faces of police and passersby. Saboteurs derailed trains, hurled stones at buses, set fire to cars...