Editing Nitric acid (section)

=== Modern era ===
In the 17th century, [[Johann Rudolf Glauber]] devised a process to obtain nitric acid by distilling potassium nitrate with sulfuric acid. In 1776 [[Antoine Lavoisier]] cited [[Joseph Priestley]]'s work to point out that it can be converted from nitric oxide (which he calls "nitrous air"), "combined with an approximately equal volume of the purest part of common air, and with a considerable quantity of water."<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Gillispie |first=Charles Coulston |url=https://archive.org/details/edgeofobjectivit00char |title=The Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1960 |isbn=0-691-02350-6 |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=223–24 |author-link=Charles Coulston Gillispie}}</ref>{{Efn|He goes on to point out that "nitrous air" is the reverse, or "nitric acid deprived of air and water."<ref name=":0" />}} In 1785 [[Henry Cavendish]] determined its precise composition and showed that it could be synthesized by passing a stream of [[electric arc|electric sparks]] through moist [[air]].<ref name="Britannica19112"/> In 1806, [[Humphry Davy]] reported the results of extensive distilled water electrolysis experiments concluding that nitric acid was produced at the anode from dissolved atmospheric nitrogen gas. He used a high voltage battery and non-reactive electrodes and vessels such as gold electrode cones that doubled as vessels bridged by damp asbestos.<ref name="Davy1839">{{cite book |title=The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy |year=1839 |editor-last=Davy |editor-first=John |volume=5 |pages=1–12 |chapter=On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/collectedworks05davy}}</ref>

The industrial production of nitric acid from atmospheric air began in 1905 with the [[Birkeland–Eyde process]], also known as the arc process.<ref name="Mell1918">{{cite book |author=Mellor, J. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924055328623 |title=Modern Inorganic Chemistry |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |year=1918 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924055328623/page/n532 509]}}</ref> This process is based upon the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen by atmospheric oxygen to nitric oxide with a very high temperature electric arc. Yields of up to approximately 4–5% nitric oxide were obtained at 3000&nbsp;°C, and less at lower temperatures.<ref name="Mell1918" /><ref name="Geof1915">{{cite book |author1=Martin, Geoffrey |url=https://archive.org/details/IndustrialNitrogenCompoundsAndExplosives |title=Industrial Nitrogen Compounds and Explosives |author2=Barbour, William |publisher=Crosby Lockwood and Son |year=1915 |page=[https://archive.org/details/IndustrialNitrogenCompoundsAndExplosives/page/n24 21]}}</ref> The nitric oxide was cooled and oxidized by the remaining atmospheric oxygen to nitrogen dioxide, and this was subsequently absorbed in water in a series of [[Packed bed#Packed column|packed column]] or [[plate column]] absorption towers to produce dilute nitric acid. The first towers bubbled the nitrogen dioxide through water and non-reactive quartz fragments. About 20% of the produced oxides of nitrogen remained unreacted so the final towers contained an alkali solution to neutralize the rest.<ref name="Knox1914">{{cite book |last=Knox |first=Joseph |url=https://archive.org/details/fixationatmosph00knoxgoog |title=The Fixation of Atmospheric Nitrogen |publisher=D. Van Nostrand Company |year=1914 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fixationatmosph00knoxgoog/page/n56 45]–50}}</ref> The process was very energy intensive and was rapidly displaced by the Ostwald process once cheap ammonia became available.

Another early production method was invented by French engineer Albert Nodon around 1913. His method produced nitric acid from electrolysis of calcium nitrate converted by bacteria from nitrogenous matter in peat bogs. An earthenware pot surrounded by limestone was sunk into the peat and staked with tarred lumber to make a compartment for the carbon anode around which the nitric acid is formed. Nitric acid was pumped out from an earthenware<ref name="Dary1913">{{cite journal |author=Dary, G. |year=1913 |title=The Production of Nitrates by the Direct Electrolysis of Peat Deposits |url=https://archive.org/details/electricalreview73lond |journal=London Electrical Review |volume=73 |pages=1020–1021}}</ref> pipe that was sunk down to the bottom of the pot. Fresh water was pumped into the top through another earthenware pipe to replace the fluid removed. The interior was filled with [[Coke (fuel)|coke]]. Cast iron cathodes were sunk into the peat surrounding it. Resistance was about 3 ohms per cubic meter and the power supplied was around 10 volts. Production from one deposit was 800 tons per year.<ref name="Dary1913" /><ref name="Hale1919">{{cite book |last=Hale |first=Arthur |url=https://archive.org/details/manufacturechem00halegoog |title=The Manufacture of Chemicals by Electrolysis |publisher=D. Van Nostrand Co. |year=1919 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/manufacturechem00halegoog/page/n46 30]–32 |access-date=2019-09-15}}</ref>

Once the [[Haber process]] for the efficient production of ammonia was introduced in 1913, nitric acid production from ammonia using the [[Ostwald process]] overtook production from the Birkeland–Eyde process. This method of production is still in use today.