calling all chemists

Thanks Tom.

A measurement that combines parts per million with pounds per acre.
Sounds like something an engineer would dream up. It's still not clear
to me how it would relate to the concentration of nitrogen compounds in a
pond.

I'll admit you had me confused when you wrote "this is an Ag term." What
the heck does this have to do with silver (Ag)? Then realized that you
meant AGriculture.

What can I say ... I'm a chemist.

Rich


"Tom L. La Bron" wrote in
:

Hey gang,

I am not a chemist, but this is an Ag term.

If you would please, could some one forward this to Ingrid, since she
has had me blocked for years now, and we don't speak directly, but the
term NO3-N is a new way designating the relationship of the amounts of
nitrogen applied to fields and the resultant NO3 that remains after
the crop has been harvested. Ag people in numerous states in the
heartland have been working on this for years now, but it is a way of
watching and calibrating the the amounts of N fertilizer needed for
the next crop to prevent the buildup of nitrates and keep them out of
the water table amd out of run off.. It is measured in the 6 inch to
one foot levels of the soil all the way to the 3 foot depth of the
soil. Nitrates are still measured in ppm, and the N is measure in
pounds/acre. Charts are kept to show the coorelations and show the
amounts needed for a variety of crops.

HTH

Tom L.L.

"Richard Tanzer" wrote in message
...
Thanks Tom.

A measurement that combines parts per million with pounds per acre.
Sounds like something an engineer would dream up. It's still not clear
to me how it would relate to the concentration of nitrogen compounds in a
pond.

I'll admit you had me confused when you wrote "this is an Ag term." What
the heck does this have to do with silver (Ag)? Then realized that you
meant AGriculture.

What can I say ... I'm a chemist.
snip

What can I say...I was tryin' to figure out how Texas A&M factored into
this.

BV.

wrote in
:

hey... I went all the way thru quantitative analysis and dissociation
constants (twice yet). what I need is Rod Farley or a real chemist...
isnt somebody's husband a chemist on this list? I done all the
searches and have come up with the standard "total nitrogen" thing,
now I want it explained in more detail and WHY they use this way of
expressing it when they werent doing that 20 years ago when I took the
damn chem course. Ingrid



NO3-N is a term used by environmental chemists as well as (as someone has
already said) in agriculture. It's not new - it was certainly in common
use in the '70's when I was involved in drinking water quality and I'm
pretty sure it dates back to the start of the 20th century or before.

It is used because there can be several different nitrogen compounds (eg
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or albumoid compounds) which have diffrent
proportions of nitrogen in them. Often it is OK just to express the
concentration of that compound in the usual way - eg mg NH3 per litre, or
mg NO3 per litre. But they contain very different amounts of nitrogen. So
whereas 1 mg NO3 contains only about 0.2 mg nitrogen, 1 mg NH3 contains
0.8 mg nitrogen.

So when the amount of nitrogen is more important than the amount of the
compound it is usual to convert all concentrations to the equivalent
amount of nitrogen. So 1 mg/l NO3-N means 1mg/l of nitrogen which happens
to be in the form of nitrate, and this represents exactly the same amount
of nitrogen as 1 mg/l NH3-N, or alb-N, or NO2-N, etc.

Similarly, if you are spreading it on a field, 1 kilogram NO3-N will
provide the same amount of available nitrogen as 1 kilogram NH3-N.

Hope this helps.

Cuvapu

If you just do a Google on "nitrate nitrogen" you can find lots of info as
to how this all relates with water.

Tim C.

"Cuvapu" wrote in message
...
wrote in
:

hey... I went all the way thru quantitative analysis and dissociation
constants (twice yet). what I need is Rod Farley or a real chemist...
isnt somebody's husband a chemist on this list? I done all the
searches and have come up with the standard "total nitrogen" thing,
now I want it explained in more detail and WHY they use this way of
expressing it when they werent doing that 20 years ago when I took the
damn chem course. Ingrid



NO3-N is a term used by environmental chemists as well as (as someone has
already said) in agriculture. It's not new - it was certainly in common
use in the '70's when I was involved in drinking water quality and I'm
pretty sure it dates back to the start of the 20th century or before.

It is used because there can be several different nitrogen compounds (eg
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or albumoid compounds) which have diffrent
proportions of nitrogen in them. Often it is OK just to express the
concentration of that compound in the usual way - eg mg NH3 per litre, or
mg NO3 per litre. But they contain very different amounts of nitrogen. So
whereas 1 mg NO3 contains only about 0.2 mg nitrogen, 1 mg NH3 contains
0.8 mg nitrogen.

So when the amount of nitrogen is more important than the amount of the
compound it is usual to convert all concentrations to the equivalent
amount of nitrogen. So 1 mg/l NO3-N means 1mg/l of nitrogen which happens
to be in the form of nitrate, and this represents exactly the same amount
of nitrogen as 1 mg/l NH3-N, or alb-N, or NO2-N, etc.

Similarly, if you are spreading it on a field, 1 kilogram NO3-N will
provide the same amount of available nitrogen as 1 kilogram NH3-N.

Hope this helps.

Cuvapu

Sorry Richard,

About the Ag designation, living in the midwest all my life (except when for
the 23 years in the Navy) Ag is just ingrained as being Agriculture.

From what I seen the NO3-N designation is like a title for the coorelation
of the Nitrates to the Nitrogen. It is the NO3-N tables for the individual
crops and the soils that they grow in is what is important. I am not a
farmer either, it is just a thread of conversation that I run into all the
time.

Tom L.L.
-----------------------------------------------
"Richard Tanzer" wrote in message
...
Thanks Tom.

A measurement that combines parts per million with pounds per acre.
Sounds like something an engineer would dream up. It's still not clear
to me how it would relate to the concentration of nitrogen compounds in a
pond.

I'll admit you had me confused when you wrote "this is an Ag term." What
the heck does this have to do with silver (Ag)? Then realized that you
meant AGriculture.

What can I say ... I'm a chemist.

Rich


"Tom L. La Bron" wrote in
:

Hey gang,

I am not a chemist, but this is an Ag term.

If you would please, could some one forward this to Ingrid, since she
has had me blocked for years now, and we don't speak directly, but the
term NO3-N is a new way designating the relationship of the amounts of
nitrogen applied to fields and the resultant NO3 that remains after
the crop has been harvested. Ag people in numerous states in the
heartland have been working on this for years now, but it is a way of
watching and calibrating the the amounts of N fertilizer needed for
the next crop to prevent the buildup of nitrates and keep them out of
the water table amd out of run off.. It is measured in the 6 inch to
one foot levels of the soil all the way to the 3 foot depth of the
soil. Nitrates are still measured in ppm, and the N is measure in
pounds/acre. Charts are kept to show the coorelations and show the
amounts needed for a variety of crops.

HTH

Tom L.L.