The Ammonia Flame

IT is generally recognised that Strutt's discovery of an active form of nitrogen is one of the most interesting results of recent investigations: it may be opportune, then, to direct attention to a phenomenon which seems to have some connection with active nitrogen. The colour of the flame of ammonia burning in oxygen is yellow, and of the same tint as the nitrogen glow in Strutt's experiment; the spectrum of the light emitted is similar. The structure of the flame is also exceptionally interesting; it consists of an inner bright yellow cone and an outer, almost non-luminous, flame. It would seem that the ammonia is first of all split up into nitrogen and hydrogen, and that the light of the inner cone is due to the combination of nitrogen atoms to nitrogen molecules, as is suggested in the case of the nitrogen glow, while in the outer flame hydrogen burns to water and some nitrogen combines with oxygen to give nitric oxide. An analysis of the products of combustion showed that nitrogen and water were the main resulting substances, but that nitrogen peroxide was also produced in considerable quantity.