A report on Ammonia and Lifting gas

Ball-and-stick model of the diamminesilver(I) cation, [Ag(NH3)2]+

The de Lana-Terzi's vacuum airship (1670)

Ball-and-stick model of the tetraamminediaquacopper(II) cation, [Cu(NH3)4(H2O)2](2+)

MAXIS: a balloon that has been able to reach a height of 36 km

Jabir ibn Hayyan

This high-pressure reactor was built in 1921 by BASF in Ludwigshafen and was re-erected on the premises of the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.

A train carrying Anhydrous Ammonia.

Liquid ammonia bottle

Household ammonia

Ammoniacal Gas Engine Streetcar in New Orleans drawn by Alfred Waud in 1871.

The X-15 aircraft used ammonia as one component fuel of its rocket engine

Anti-meth sign on tank of anhydrous ammonia, Otley, Iowa. Anhydrous ammonia is a common farm fertilizer that is also a critical ingredient in making methamphetamine. In 2005, Iowa used grant money to give out thousands of locks to prevent criminals from getting into the tanks.

The world's longest ammonia pipeline (roughly 2400 km long), running from the TogliattiAzot plant in Russia to Odessa in Ukraine

Hydrochloric acid sample releasing HCl fumes, which are reacting with ammonia fumes to produce a white smoke of ammonium chloride.

Production trend of ammonia between 1947 and 2007

Main symptoms of hyperammonemia (ammonia reaching toxic concentrations).

Ammonia occurs in the atmospheres of the outer giant planets such as Jupiter (0.026% ammonia), Saturn (0.012% ammonia), and in the atmospheres and ices of Uranus and Neptune.

Ammonia has been used as a lifting gas in balloons, but while inexpensive, it is relatively heavy (density 0.769 g/L at STP, average molecular mass 17.03 g/mol), poisonous, an irritant, and can damage some metals and plastics.

- Lifting gas

It is lighter than air, its density being 0.589 times that of air.

- Ammonia

Ball-and-stick model of the diamminesilver(I) cation, [Ag(NH3)2]+

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The Space Shuttle Main Engine burnt hydrogen with oxygen, producing a nearly invisible flame at full thrust.

Hydrogen

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Chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1.

Chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1.

The Space Shuttle Main Engine burnt hydrogen with oxygen, producing a nearly invisible flame at full thrust.

Depiction of a hydrogen atom with size of central proton shown, and the atomic diameter shown as about twice the Bohr model radius (image not to scale)

Hydrogen gas is colorless and transparent, here contained in a glass ampoule.

Phase diagram of hydrogen. The temperature and pressure scales are logarithmic, so one unit corresponds to a 10x change. The left edge corresponds to 105 Pa, which is about atmospheric pressure.

A sample of sodium hydride

Hydrogen discharge (spectrum) tube

Deuterium discharge (spectrum) tube

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier

Hydrogen emission spectrum lines in the visible range. These are the four visible lines of the Balmer series

NGC 604, a giant region of ionized hydrogen in the Triangulum Galaxy

Most hydrogen is used near the site of its production, the two largest uses being fossil fuel processing (e.g., hydrocracking) and ammonia production, mostly for the fertilizer market.

But the damage to hydrogen's reputation as a lifting gas was already done and commercial hydrogen airship travel ceased.