Nitrogen - Suffocating air

Like oxygen, nitrogen has several discoverers. Lomonosov is still in

1756 observed the air remaining when the metal was calcined in a closed vessel. In 1772, nitrogen discovered Ka-

CnU1n+lH20^ and CO + (u+ m/2)H2, ClHt+2H20^« CO2+(2/1+t/2)H2.

The reaction occurs at 50 (Рс and a pressure of 250 atm in the presence of a catalyst

2. Catalytic purification of synthesis gas (conversion): CO + H2O ^ CO2 +H2.

Contact furnace for ammonia production. The raw materials are air, water and coal or oil, which is now being replaced by natural gas. The reaction proceeds in three stages:

Then the carbon dioxide is washed under pressure, and the hydrogen enters the furnace for the synthesis reaction:

1. Production of synthesis gas in the presence of a catalyst:

N2 +3 H2 ^ 2NH3.

Wendish, which passed air over hot coal and absorbed the resulting carbon dioxide with caustic potassium. A residual gas with a lower density than the density of air was formed. Cavendish called it "suffocating air." He reported this discovery in a letter to Priestley, but did not bother to publish the results. And in the same year that Cavendish made his discovery, the Scotsman Daniel Rutherford. (1749-1819) in his doctoral dissertation in medicine (dated September 12, 1772) reported the discovery " poisonous air"He obtained this gas during experiments with mice. He kept these animals under a glass bell for several days, then treated the gas from under the bell with caustic potash (KOH); the carbon dioxide was absorbed by the alkali, and nitrogen remained. Rutherford later became a professor of botany at the University of Edinburgh, but continued to engage in physical and chemical research.

Rutherford, and not Cavendish, is rightfully considered the discoverer of nitrogen, because Rutherford published the results of his experiments earlier. True, both Scheele and Priestley inevitably encountered nitrogen in their research. Scheele called it “bad air,” and Priestley called it “phlogisticated air.” In 1787, Lavoisier proposed calling this gas nitrogen (in Greek, “not supporting life”). The gas is known by this name in most countries. Only in German is it called a “choking substance” (stikstof).

Use of site materials is possible subject to an active link.

Ernest Rutherford (life: 08/30/1871 - 10/19/1937) - English physicist, creator of the planetary model of the atom, founder of nuclear physics. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London and, from 1925 to 1930, its president. This man is the owner of which he received in 1908.

The future scientist was born into the family of James Rutherford, a wheelwright, and Martha Thompson, a teacher. Besides him, the family had 5 daughters and 6 sons.

Training and first awards

Before the family moved from North in 1889, Rutherford Ernest studied in Christchurch at Canterbury College. Already at this time, the brilliant abilities of the future scientist were revealed. After completing the 4th year, Ernest was awarded for the best work in the field of mathematics, and also took 1st place in the master's exams in physics and mathematics.

Invention of the magnetic detector

Having become a Master of Arts, Rutherford did not leave college. He plunged into independent scientific work on the magnetization of iron. He developed and manufactured a special device - a magnetic detector, which became one of the world's first receivers of electromagnetic waves, as well as Rutherford's "entry ticket" to big science. An important change soon took place in his life.

Rutherford goes to England

The most talented young subjects of the English crown from New Zealand were given a scholarship every two years. The World Exhibition of 1851, which provided the opportunity to travel to England to study science. In 1895, it was decided that two New Zealanders were worthy of such an honor - the physicist Rutherford and the chemist Maclaurin. However, there was only one place, and Ernest's hopes were dashed. Fortunately, Maclaurin was forced to abandon this trip for family reasons, and Rutherford Ernest arrived in England in the fall of 1895. Here he began work at the University of Cambridge (at the Cavendish Laboratory) and became the first doctoral student of J. Thomson, its director (pictured below).

Study of Becquerel's rays

Thomson by that time was already one of the members of the respected Royal Society of London. He quickly appreciated Rutherford's abilities and recruited him to work on the study of the ionization of gases under the influence of X-rays, which he carried out. However, already in the summer of 1898, Ernest takes his first steps in another area of research. He became interested in Becquerel's rays. The radiation from uranium salt, discovered by Becquerel, a physicist from France, later became known as radioactive. The French scientist, as well as the Curies, were actively involved in his research. In 1898, Rutherford Ernest also joined the work. This scientist discovered that these rays include streams of helium nuclei, positively charged (alpha particles), as well as streams of electrons (beta particles).

Further study of uranium rays

The work of the Curies was presented to the Paris Academy of Sciences on July 18, 1898, which aroused Rutherford's great interest. In it, the authors pointed out that in addition to uranium, there are other radioactive (this term was used for the first time then) elements. Rutherford later introduced the concept of one of the main distinguishing features of these elements.

Ernest's exhibition scholarship was extended in December 1897. The scientist got the opportunity to further study the rays of uranium. However, in April 1898, a position as a professor at the local McGill University became available in Montreal, and Ernest decided to go to Canada. The time for apprenticeship has passed. It was clear to everyone that Rutherford was ready to work independently.

Moving to Canada and a new job

In the fall of 1898, the move to Canada took place. At first, Rutherford’s teaching was not very successful: the students did not like the lectures, which the young professor, who had not yet learned to fully understand the audience, oversaturated with details. Some difficulties also arose in scientific work due to the fact that the arrival of radioactive drugs ordered by Rutherford was delayed. However, all the rough edges were soon smoothed out, and a streak of good fortune and success began for Ernest. However, it is hardly appropriate to talk about successes: everything was achieved through hard work, in which his new friends and like-minded people were involved.

Discovery of the law of radioactive transformations

An atmosphere of creative enthusiasm and passion had already formed around Rutherford. The work was joyful and intense, it led to great success. Rutherford discovered the emanation of thorium in 1899. Together with Soddy in 1902-1903, he came to a general law applicable to all radioactive transformations. It is worth saying a little more about this important scientific event.

Scientists all over the world firmly understood at that time that it was impossible to transform one chemical element into another, so the dreams of alchemists to extract gold from lead should be buried forever. And then a work appeared in which it was argued that during radioactive decays, transformations of elements not only occur, but they can neither be slowed down nor stopped. Moreover, the laws of these transformations were formulated. Today we understand that it is the charge of the nucleus that determines the chemical properties of an element and its position in the periodic table of Mendeleev. When it decreases by two units, which occurs during alpha decay, it “moves” up 2 spaces on the periodic table. It shifts one cell down during electronic beta decay, and one cell up during positron decay. Despite the obviousness of this law and its apparent simplicity, this discovery was one of the most important events in science of the early 20th century.

Marriage to Mary Georgina Newton, birth of a daughter

At the same time, an important event occurred in Ernest’s personal life. 5 years after his engagement to Mary Georgina Newton, the scientist Ernest Rutherford married her, whose biography by this time was already marked by significant achievements. This girl was the daughter of the owner of the boarding house in Christchurch where he once lived. In 1901, on March 30, the only daughter in the Rutherford family was born. This event practically coincided in time with the birth of a new chapter in physical science - nuclear physics. And after 2 years, Rutherford became a member of the Royal Society of London.

Rutherford's books, experiments on transilluminating foil with alpha particles

Ernest created 2 books in which he summarized the results of his scientific research and achievements. The first was published under the title "Radioactivity" in 1904. “Radioactive Transformations” appeared a year later. The author of these books began new research at this time. He realized that it was from atoms that radioactive radiation emanated, but the place of its origin remained absolutely unclear. It was necessary to study the structure of the kernel. And then Ernest turned to the method of transillumination with alpha particles, with which he began his work with Thomson. The experiments examined how the flow of these particles passes through thin sheets of foil.

Thomson's first model of the atom

The first model of the atom was proposed when it became known that electrons have a negative charge. However, they occur in atoms that are generally electrically neutral. This means there must be something in its composition that carries a positive charge. To solve this problem, Thomson proposed the following model: an atom is something like a drop, positively charged, the radius of which is a hundred millionth of a centimeter. It contains tiny electrons with a negative charge. They tend, under the influence of Coulomb forces, to occupy a position in the very center of the atom, but if something throws them out of balance, they oscillate, accompanied by radiation. This model explained the existence of emission spectra, a fact that was known at the time. From experiments it has already become clear that in solids the distances between atoms are approximately the same as their sizes. It seemed obvious, therefore, that alpha particles could not fly through foil, just as a stone could not fly through a forest in which the trees grew almost close to each other. However, the very first experiments performed by Rutherford convinced that this was not so. Most of the alpha particles penetrated the foil almost without deflection, and only a few showed deflection, sometimes significant. Ernest Rutherford became very interested in this. Interesting facts required further study.

Rutherford planetary model

And then Rutherford’s intuition and the ability of this scientist to understand the language of nature manifested themselves again. Ernest decisively rejected Thomson's model of the atom. Rutherford's experiments led him to put forward his own, called planetary. According to it, at the center of the atom there is a nucleus in which the entire mass of the atom is concentrated, despite its rather small size. And around the core, like planets revolving around the Sun, electrons move. Their masses are significantly less than those of alpha particles, and that is why the latter practically do not deflect when they penetrate electron clouds. And only when an alpha particle flies close to a positively charged nucleus is the Coulomb repulsive force capable of sharply bending the trajectory of its movement. This is Rutherford's theory. It was certainly a great discovery.

Laws of electrodynamics and planetary model

Rutherford's experience was enough to convince many scientists of the existence of the planetary model. However, it turned out that it is not so clear-cut. Rutherford's formula, which he derived based on this model, was consistent with the data obtained during the experiment. However, she refuted the laws of electrodynamics!

These laws, which were established mainly by the works of Maxwell and Faraday, state that an accelerated charge emits electromagnetic waves and loses energy because of this. In a Rutherford atom, the electron moves accelerated in the Coulomb field of the nucleus and, according to Maxwell's theory, it should lose all its energy in a ten-millionth of a second, after which it will fall onto the nucleus. However, this did not happen. Consequently, Rutherford's formula refuted Maxwell's theory. Ernest knew this when the time came to return to England in 1907.

Moving to Manchester and winning the Nobel Prize

Ernest's work at McGill University made him very famous. Rutherford began to vying with each other to be invited to scientific centers in different countries. The scientist decided to leave Canada in the spring of 1907 and arrived in Manchester, at the University of Victoria, where he continued his research. Together with H. Geiger, he created an alpha particle counter in 1908, a new device that played an important role in finding out that alpha particles are doubly ionized helium atoms. Rutherford Ernest, whose discoveries were of great importance, received the Nobel Prize in 1908 (in chemistry, not physics!).

Collaboration with Niels Bohr

Meanwhile, the planetary model occupied his thoughts more and more. And so in March 1912, Rutherford began to collaborate and be friends with Niels Bohr. Bohr's greatest merit (his photo is presented below) was that he introduced fundamentally new features into the planetary model - the idea of quanta.

He put forward “postulates” that at first glance seemed internally contradictory. In his opinion, there are orbits in the atom. An electron, moving along them, does not radiate, contrary to the laws of electrodynamics, although it has acceleration. This scientist indicated a rule by which these orbits can be found. He found out that radiation quanta appear only when an electron moves from orbit to orbit. solved many problems, and also became a breakthrough into the world of new ideas. Its discovery led to a radical revision of ideas about matter and its movement.

Further extensive activities

In 1919, Rutherford became a professor at Cambridge University and also director of the Cavendish Laboratory. Dozens of scientists rightly considered him their teacher, including those who were later awarded Nobel Prizes. These are J. Chadwick, G. Moseley, M. Oliphant, J. Cockroft, O. Gan, W. Geitler, Yu.B. Khariton, P.L. Kapitsa, G. Gamow and others. The flow of honors and awards became more and more abundant. In 1914, Rutherford was ennobled. He became President of the British Association in 1923, and from 1925 to 1930 he was President of the Royal Society. Ernest received the title of Baron in 1931 and became a lord. However, despite increasingly higher pressures, and not only scientific ones, he continues to attack the secrets of the nucleus and the atom.

We offer you one interesting fact related to Rutherford’s scientific activities. It is known that Ernest Rutherford used the following criterion when choosing his employees: he gave the person who came to him for the first time a task, and if the new employee then wondered what to do next, he was immediately fired.

The scientist has already begun experiments, which ended with his discovery of the artificial splitting of atomic nuclei and the artificial transformation of chemical elements. In 1920, Rutherford predicted the existence of the deuteron and neutron, and in 1933 he initiated and participated in an experiment to test the relationship between energy and mass in nuclear processes. In April 1932, he supported the idea of using proton accelerators in the study of nuclear reactions.

Death of Rutherford

The works of Ernest Rutherford and the work of his students, belonging to several generations, had a huge impact on science and technology, on the lives of millions of people. The great scientist, of course, could not help but wonder whether this influence would be positive. However, he was an optimist and firmly believed in science and people. Ernest Rutherford, whose brief biography we have described, died in 1937, on October 19. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

On August 30, 1871, the British physicist of New Zealand origin, known as the “father” of nuclear physics, and winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Sir Ernest Rutherford, was born.

We decided to recall the biography of the famous scientist and illustrate its main milestones in our photo selection.

Born on August 30, 1871 in the city of Spring Brove (New Zealand) into a family of Scottish emigrants. His father worked as a mechanic and flax farmer, his mother was a teacher. Ernest was the fourth of the 12 Rutherford children and the most talented.

House V Foxhill , Where Ernest spent part of my childhood

“Sciences are divided into two groups - physics and stamp collecting”

Already at the end of primary school, as the first student, he received a bonus of 50 pounds sterling to continue his education. Thanks to this, Rutherford entered college in Nelson (New Zealand).

Portrait of Rutherford in 1892, when he was a student at Canterbury College

After graduating from college, the young man passed exams at the University of Canterbury and here he seriously studied physics and chemistry.

« If a scientist cannot explain what he does to a cleaning lady mopping the floor in his laboratory, then he himself does not understand what he does.«

Rutherford with students in Montreal , California State. 1899

J. J. Thomson, like many outstanding professors of physics at the end of the 19th century, gathered a group of bright young " research students"around you. Directly among them is his protégé Ernest Rutherford.

He participated in the creation of a scientific student society and in 1891 made a report on the topic “Evolution of the Elements,” where the idea was first voiced that atoms are complex systems built from the same components.

Hans Geiger was at Rutherford main partner V research since 1907 to 1913

At a time when J. Dalton’s idea of the indivisibility of the atom dominated physics, this idea seemed absurd, and young Rutherford even had to apologize to his colleagues for “obvious nonsense.”

Ernest Rutherford (first from left in bottom row) with colleagues

True, 12 years later Rutherford proved he was right. After graduating from university, Ernest became a high school teacher, but this occupation was clearly not to his liking. Rutherford, the best graduate of the year, was awarded a scholarship, and he went to Cambridge, the scientific center of England, to continue his studies.

Rutherford (second from left in top row) with classmates in 1896

At the Cavendish Laboratory, Rutherford created a transmitter for radio communication within a radius of 3 km, but gave priority to the Italian engineer G. Marconi for his invention, and he himself began to study the ionization of gases and air. The scientist noticed that uranium radiation has two components - alpha and beta rays. It was a revelation.

Rutherford I loved good game golf on Sundays. From left to right: Ralph Fowler , F. U. Aston , Rutherford , G. AND. Taylor

In Montreal, while studying the activity of thorium, Rutherford discovered a new gas - radon. In 1902, in his work “The Cause and Nature of Radioactivity,” the scientist first expressed the idea that the cause of radioactivity is the spontaneous transition of some elements to others. He found that alpha particles are positively charged, their mass is greater than that of a hydrogen atom, and their charge is approximately equal to the charge of two electrons, and this is reminiscent of helium atoms.

Wedding Ernesta And Mary Rutherford , 28 June 1900 New Zealand

In 1903, Rutherford became a member of the Royal Society of London, and from 1925 to 1930 he served as its president.

Ernest Rutherford at the 1911 Solvay Congress

In 1904, the scientist’s fundamental work “Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations” was published, which became an encyclopedia for nuclear physicists. In 1908, Rutherford became a Nobel laureate for his research into radioactive elements. The head of the physics laboratory at the University of Manchester, Rutherford created a school of nuclear physicists, his students.

Rutherford always gathered a group of bright young talents around him.Photo from 1910

Together with them, he studied the atom and in 1911 finally came to the planetary model of the atom, which he wrote about in an article published in the May issue of the Philosophical Journal. The model was not accepted immediately; it was established only after it was refined by Rutherford’s students, in particular N. Bohr.

Cockcroft, Rutherford, and Walton in 1932

Sculpture of young Ernest Rutherford. Memorial in New Zealand

The scientist died on October 19, 1937 in Cambridge. Like many great men of England, Ernest Rutherford rests in St. Paul's Cathedral, in the "Science Corner", next to Newton, Faraday, Durenne, Herschel.

Rutherford I Rutherford

Daniel (11/3/1749, Edinburgh, - 11/15/1819, ibid.), Scottish chemist, botanist and physician. Since 1786 professor at the University of Edinburgh. In 1772 he discovered a gas that does not support respiration and combustion, which, unlike carbon dioxide, is not absorbed by an alkali solution. R. mistakenly considered the gas he received to be air saturated with Phlogiston. A. Lavoisier showed that this gas is Nitrogen, which is part of the air.

II Rutherford

Mark (pseudonym; real name William Hale White; White) (12/22/1831, Bedford - 3/14/1913, Groombridge), English writer. Studied at theological college. R.'s novels “The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford” (1881) and “The Liberation of Mark Rutherford” (1885) depict the formation of a consciousness freed from religious and other prejudices of the Victorian era. At the center of the novel “Revolution in Tanners Lane” (1887, Russian translation, 1969) is the image of a printing worker, his path from anarchism to conscious revolutionary struggle. One of the first proletarian works in European literature, R.'s novel is highly appreciated by English Marxist literary criticism (R. Fox). Loyalty to democratic beliefs distinguishes R.'s novels of the 90s. “The Education of Miriam” (1890), “Catherine Furze” (1893), etc. Under his own name, he published translations of the works of B. Spinoza, books about W. Wordsworth, J. Bunyan.

Works: Novels, v. 1-6, L., 1923; Letters to three friends, L., 1924.

Lit.: History of English Literature, vol. 3, M., 1958; Stock I., W. H. White, L., 1956; Merton S., M. Rutherford, N. Y., (lit. pp. 187-89).

III Rutherford

Ernest (30.8.1871, Brightwater, New Zealand - 19.10.1937, Cambridge), English physicist who laid the foundations for the doctrine of radioactivity and the structure of the atom; He was the first to carry out the artificial transformation of elements. Member of the Royal Society of London (1903). For scientific services he received the title of Lord Nelson (1931).

R. was born into the family of a small farmer. In 1890 he entered the University of New Zealand (Christchurch). While still a student, he became interested in the use of electromagnetic waves for wireless telegraphy and built a magnetic detector of electromagnetic oscillations. For these works, R. received a scholarship after graduating from the university (1894), for which he went to England to continue scientific work at the Cavendish Laboratory (See Cavendish Laboratory) . Here, under the guidance of J. J. Thomson, he studied ionization processes in gases and became interested in the phenomenon of radioactivity, discovered in 1896 by A. Becquerel (See Becquerel). In 1897 he took the chair of physics in Montreal (Canada), in 1907 - in Manchester. From 1919 until the end of his life he was a professor at Cambridge University and director of the Cavendish Laboratory.

All of R.'s main works are devoted to issues of the atomic nucleus. In his first works, he showed that the emission of a radioactive substance is a complex process in which the bulk of the energy is transferred by particles. R. established that such corpuscular radiation consists of two parts, and gave them the name α- and β-rays. R. showed that β-rays represent a flow of electrons, and α-rays are helium atoms. In 1900 he discovered the decay product of radium, called emanation. In 1903, R., together with F. Soddy, put forward a theory explaining radioactivity as the spontaneous decomposition of an atom of a substance, in which it changes its place in the periodic table of elements (See Periodic table of elements), that is, the transformation of atoms of one element into another occurs. For these works, R. received the Nobel Prize in 1908.

Studying the scattering of α-particles as they pass through matter (see Rutherford's formula), I came to the conclusion that at the center of the atoms there is a massive positively charged nucleus. In 1911, he proposed a planetary model of the atom, which is similar to the solar system: in the center is a positively charged core, with negatively charged electrons moving in orbits around it. Based on this model, in 1913 N. Bohr created the theory of the atom and spectra.

In 1919, R. first showed that it was possible to carry out the artificial decomposition of elements. He bombarded nitrogen atoms with fast α-particles, as a result of which they turned into oxygen atoms and at the same time fast hydrogen nuclei (called protons at R.'s suggestion) flew out. In 1921, he suggested the possibility of the existence of a neutral particle - Neutron a. R.'s further work was devoted to the study of artificial radioactivity of various elements.

R. was a talented organizer, educated a large school of physicists (G. Moseley, J. Chadwick, J. Cockroft, M. Oliphant, N. Bohr, W. Heitler, O. Gan and others, Soviet physicists P.L. Kapitsa and Yu.B. Khariton worked for him). R.'s works received worldwide recognition; he was elected a member of most academies around the world, including an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Works: The collected papers of Lord Rutherford of Nelson, v. 1-3, L., 1962-65; Favorite scientific works. Radioactivity, M., 1971; Favorite scientific works. The structure of the atom and artificial transformation of elements, M., 1972.

Lit.: Eve A. S., Rutherford. Being the life and letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, Camb., 1939; Danin D., Rutherford, M., ; Staroselskaya-Nikitina O. A., Ernest Rutherford, M., 1967; Rutherford is a scientist and teacher. To the 100th anniversary of his birth, ed. P. L. Kapitsa, M., 1973.

P. L. Kapitsa.

IV Rutherford

an off-system unit of activity of nuclides (radioactive isotopes) in radioactive samples and sources (see Radioactivity). Named after E. Rutherford A. Designations: Russian rd, International Rd. R. is defined as the activity of any nuclide, equal to 10 6 decay events of a given nuclide in 1 sec. 1 Curie = 3.700․10 4 rd. The R. unit was proposed in 1946, but was not widely used and is practically not used.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

Synonyms:

See what "Rutherford" is in other dictionaries:

- (Rutherford) Ernest, Lord (1871 1937), British physicist, b. in New Zealand; pioneer of modern NUCLEAR PHYSICS. Rutherford discovered and named alpha and beta radiation, named the NUCLEUS and put forward the theory of radioactive ATOMIC transformations, for which... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

- (Рд, Rd), non-systemic outdated unit. activity of nuclides (isotopes) in radioactive sources. Named after the English physicist E. Rutherford (E. Rutherford). 1 Rd is equal to the activity of the isotope; in rm, 106 decays occur in 1 s, i.e. 1 Rd = 106... ... Physical encyclopedia

An out-of-system obsolete unit of activity of radioactive isotopes, designated Rd. Named after E. Rutherford. 1 Rd = 106 decays/s... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 unit (830) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

RUTHERFORD- non-systemic unit of activity of radioactive isotopes. Named after English. physics E. Rutherford (1871 1937). Designation Rd. 1 Rd = 106 Bq (see Becquerel), i.e. 106 decays/s... Russian encyclopedia of labor protection

Rutherford- Unit of measurement of nuclide activity, 2, 72.105 Bq [A.S. Goldberg. English-Russian energy dictionary. 2006] Energy topics in general EN rutherfordRd ... Technical Translator's Guide

Rutherford, less commonly Rutherford, obsolete. Rutherford, Rutherford (eng. Rutherford, Rutherfurd) English surname; extremely rare name. Famous speakers Rutherford, Kelly (eng. Kelly Rutherford; born 1968) American actress.... ... Wikipedia