The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 312: Chapter 275: Synthetic Ammonia

After watching the tank performance, Arthur met with Fritz Haber from Germany a few days later without a break.

Wh it comes to Haber's name, it might be unfamiliar to those who are not very interested in the chemical industry.

But if the ammonia synthesis technology is mtioned, the fame would undoubtedly be much higher.

Haber was born in a Jewish family in Breslau, Silesia, Germany, and was a well-known German chemist.

Because he succeeded in producing ammonia from the air in 909, he won the Victoria Chemistry Award at the d of 909 and received Arthur's personal invitation to come to the Royal Australasian Physical and Chemical Research Association.

The predecessor of the Royal Australasian Physical and Chemical Research Association was the Royal Physical Research Association, and the chief presidt was Albert Einstein.

The establishmt of the Physical and Chemical Research Association is naturally for attracting top physical and chemical talts from Europe and ev all over the world.

Up to now, Arthur's investmt in the Royal Physical and Chemical Research Association has exceeded ts of millions of Australian dollars, and the achievemts have indeed be not small.

Many famous physicists and chemists, including Albert Einstein and Haber, have be personally invited by Arthur to join the Royal Physical and Chemical Research Association.

They only need to change their nationality to Australasia, and they can receive at least five thousand Australian dollars in annual salary, plus at least fifty thousand Australian dollars in research funds per person per year.

In addition to these, all state-owned laboratories and materials in Australia, as well as laboratories and some equipmt within the University, are provided free of charge to members of the Royal Physical and Chemical Research Association.

In short, once you become a member of the Royal Physical and Chemical Research Association, the research funding is provided by the Research Association, and you will receive a high salary, and ev the daily necessities of family members have arrangemts.

This is good news for some scitific researchers who love scitific research but are financially embarrassed. It is also precisely because of these conditions that the Royal Australian Physical and Chemical Research Association has attracted more than 0 members so far.

These are all famous physical and chemical researchers from European and American countries, all of them have certain research results, and their abilities are recognized by famous experts.

Haber's reputation in later gerations is actually not very good, because Haber served as the director of a chemical factory during World War I and was responsible for the developmt and production of chlorine gas and mustard gas. He used it in the war, causing nearly a million casualties.

This inhumane act was condemned by scitists from many countries such as the United States, Britain, and France, which also caused Haber's reputation in the scitific research community to decline drastically.

However, this does not hinder Haber's talt in chemistry at all. The ammonia synthesis technology he developed is also esstial at the national level.

Of course, wh it comes to ammonia synthesis technology, the importance of ammonia cannot be ignored.

Ammonia is a colorless gas with a strong irritating odor. Ammonia is a compound of nitrog and hydrog, which is easily soluble in water and is an esstial raw material for making nitrate fertilizers and explosives.

The importance of ammonia synthesis technology lies precisely in the vital mineral for making gunpowder and agricultural fertilizers, saltpeter.

Because it can make gunpowder and is also an esstial source of agricultural fertilizers, this leads to the unmatched importance of saltpeter mines and is held by very few countries.

Currtly, the world's largest Saltpeter mine comes from the Pampas Desert in Chile, which ev in later gerations, is still the largest saltpeter mining area and saltpeter export site in the world.

Wars erupted for this saltpeter mine among neighboring countries and Chile, but Chile finally succeeded in obtaining it.

With the support of the British, Chile successfully became one of the three powers in South America. But the cost was that this saltpeter mine was firmly occupied by the British, and the mining and sales of saltpeter mines were basically controlled by the British.

The British Empire's monopoly on saltpeter mines has caused dissatisfaction among many other countries. There is no way, saltpeter mines are esstial for military industry and agriculture. Ev if they cannot get a share from the British-occupied saltpeter mines, they must find alternatives to saltpeter mines to solve the raw materials for making gunpowder and fertilizers.

Among the various alternatives to saltpeter mines, ammonia is undoubtedly one of the esstial alternatives.

As early as 795, someone tried to synthesize ammonia under normal atmospheric pressure but ultimately failed. Th, others tried to test it under multiple differt atmospheric pressures, but the result was still a failure.

This situation did not progress until the second half of the 9th ctury. Advances in physics and chemistry allowed people to realize that the reaction of nitrog and hydrog to synthesize ammonia is reversible.

Increasing pressure will push the reaction towards ammonia production: increasing temperature will shift the reaction in the opposite direction, but the reaction rate is too small if the temperature is too low; catalysts will have a significant impact on the reaction. This has provided theoretical guidance for the ammonia synthesis experimt.

At that time, Nestor, the German authority in physical chemistry, clearly pointed out that nitrog and hydrog could synthesize ammonia under high pressure, and provided some experimtal data.

Frch chemist Le Chatelier was the first to attempt a high-pressure ammonia synthesis experimt, but due to the oxyg mixed into the nitrog-hydrog mixture, an explosion occurred, causing him to abandon the dangerous experimt. Having a good foundation in the field of physical and chemical research, Haber is determined to overcome this daunting problem.