Chemicals from the Atmosphere Author:Charles H. Simpson The Chemistry in Action Series has been designed to give the general reader a thorough introduction to the many different sides of the chemical industry. Prepared under the joint supervision of the Manufacturing Chemists' Association and Doubleday & Company, Inc., each volume focuses on a particular segment of the chemical industry and relates ... more »the pure chemical science to the final products met in everyday life. The volumes have each been written by distinguished authorities in the field.
The atmosphere is a great, swirling envelope of gases that surrounds the earth. It extends outward for hundreds of miles to form a tough, transparent shield against the cold immensity of space; and it accompanies our planet in its annual 600-million mile journey around the sun.
Of all the gases in the earth's atmosphere, nitrogen and oxygen are the most plentiful and the most essential--without them there would be no life as we know it. These two elements and the others found in the atmosphere are also responsible, either alone or as compounded with other elements, for an endless variety of products from the commonplace to the spectacular, from neon signs to rocket fuel.
In this volume, the author describes how these chemicals came into common use and pieces together the chain of events that led from a fire kindled in a cave some 500,000 years ago to a manned space capsule orbiting the moon.« less