Vaclav Smil: "Is ammonia our most important material?"

From Delancey Place:

Today's selection -- from How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil. 

Today’s world is highly dependent on synthetic ammonia:
 
"Ammonia … deserves the top position as our most important ma­terial. As explained in the previous chapter, without its use as the dominant nitrogen fertilizer (directly or as feedstock for the synthe­sis of other nitrogenous compounds), it would be impossible to feed at least 40 percent and up to 50 percent of today's nearly 8 billion people. Simply restated: in 2020, nearly 4 billion people would not have been alive without synthetic ammonia. No comparable existen­tial constraints apply to plastics or steel, nor to the cement that is required to make concrete (nor, as already noted, to silicon).

"Ammonia is a simple inorganic compound of one nitrogen and three hydrogens (NH3), which means that nitrogen makes up 82 per­cent of its mass. At atmospheric pressure it is an invisible gas with a characteristic pungent smell of unflushed toilets or decomposing animal manure. Inhaling it in low concentrations causes headaches, nausea, and vomiting; higher concentrations irritate the eyes, nose, mouth, throat, and lungs; and inhalation of very high concentrations can be instantly fatal. In contrast, ammonium (NH4, ammonium ion), formed by the dissolution of ammonia in water, is non-toxic and does not easily penetrate cell membranes.

"Synthesizing this simple molecule was surprisingly challenging. The history of inventions includes famous cases of accidental dis­coveries; in this chapter on materials, the story of Teflon might be the most apposite example. In 1938, Roy Plunkett, a chemist at DuPont, and his assistant Jack Rebok formulated tetrafluoroethyl­ene as a new refrigerant compound. After storing it in refrigerated cylinders, they found that the compound underwent unexpected polymerization, turning into polytetrafluoroethylene, a white, waxy, slippery powder. After the Second World War, Teflon became one of the best-known synthetic materials, and perhaps the only one that made it into political jargon (we have Teflon presidents, but seemingly no Bakelite presidents -- though there was an Iron Lady).....

....MUCH MORE

Related:
"Are We Entering a New Golden Age of Guano?"

We'd better be, if the Dutch and the U.N. and the WEF have their way with nitrogen.

And it won't be easy, we are talking, in round numbers, three billion people whose food is dependent on fertilizers of the nitrogenous sort.One can dream but there's not all that much of the stuff left.
As with whale oil, it is a natural resource we came closest to running out of.
And as with whale oil, substitutions save the day....

From July 2022's "Sri Lanka As A Testing Ground For Some Of The WEF's Ideas": 

Here's an interesting paragraph:

"....Sri Lanka’s situation exposes the true cost of living and the cost of ownership. In a 

performance economy, which encompasses one of the economic principles of a circular 

economy, a smaller number of asset owners will take custodianship of assets to keep 

them in use and provide services to many users based on consumption....."

That's from "How a circular economy could help tackle Sri Lanka's economic crisis", World Economic Forum, July 5, 2022.

Yeah, I Got Your Organic B.S. Right Here: "Sri Lanka’s 2022 crisis will hurt for years to come"
Nitrogen: "Netherlands to close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU rules"
Three Provincial Premiers Reject Canadian Central Government Nitrogen Decrees

These aren't just any provinces. I mean New Brunswick is nice, and huge shout-out to Gander, Newfoundland but the three provinces in the headline are the breadbasket of Canada and a world-class agricultural resource....

And a couple hundred more. If interested use the 'search blog' box upper left, keywords ammonia or nitrogen or Haber - Bosch. It is extremely important stuff.

In addition to the nitrogen atom, an ammonia molecule is also a dandy way to move three hydrogen atoms around.