Ammonium lactate is used to treat dry, scaly, itchy skin. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. By itself, ammonium nitrate is not regarded as dangerous but under certain conditions, it can become deadly. Ammonium nitrate is used in the high explosive ANFO (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil). Ammonium nitrate is a popular fertilizer since it provides half of the N in the nitrate form and half in the ammonium form. Under certain conditions, this can lead to a runaway reaction, with the decomposition process becoming explosive. The chemical is classified as an “energetic material” meaning that it produces heat as it decomposes. [4] Global production was estimated at 21.6 million tonnes in 2017.[5]. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. Health and safety data are shown on the material safety data sheets, which are available from suppliers and can be found on the internet. [21] The resulting heat and pressure from decomposition increases the sensitivity to detonation and increases the speed of decomposition. Timothy McVeigh used two tons of ammonium nitrate to bomb a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, leading to the deaths of 168 people. An explosive charge within or in contact with a mass of ammonium nitrate causes the ammonium nitrate to detonate. Ammonium nitrate, which is used in fertilizers and bomb making, is a salt made from ammonium and nitric acid, and it is highly explosive. Ammonium nitrate is predominantly used in agriculture as a fertiliser. Ammonium nitrate is the “N” in N-P-K synthetic lawn fertilizer. Find out more about its hazards and safe management. It is a white crystalline solid consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is popular because it is a cheap and highly stable explosive. If there is a significant amount of ammonium nitrate it can generate enough heat to catch fire and continue to burn eventually causing an explosion. [26][21], Contact with certain substances such as chlorates, mineral acids and metal sulfides, can lead to vigorous or even violent decomposition capable of igniting nearby combustible material or detonating. In most countries, it is used to make explosives for mining, quarrying and civil construction because of its low cost and ready availability. Chemical Advisory: Safe Storage, Handling, and Management of Ammonium Nitrate, United States Environmental Protection Agency, "Report for Kooragang Island Update PHA MOD1 Report", "Guidance for Compatibility of Fertilizer Blending Materials", "Material Safety Data Sheet, Ammonium nitrate MSDS", "Lebanon's president calls for two-week state of emergency in Beirut after blast", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ammonium_nitrate&oldid=991074538, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using collapsible list with both background and text-align in titlestyle, Articles containing unverified chemical infoboxes, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Shock-to-detonation transition. Examples of such disasters are. In November 2009, the government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan imposed a ban on ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizers in the former Malakand Division – comprising the Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Swat, Chitral, and Malakand districts of the NWFP – following reports that those chemicals were used by militants to make explosives. It should not be stored near high explosives or blasting agents. The chemical made the news again after a huge explosion in Beirut caused the death of 100 people and nearly 4,000 injuries. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. Examples include the Oppau explosion of 1921 (one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions), the Texas City disaster of 1947, the 2015 Tianjin explosions in China, and the 2020 Beirut explosion.[37]. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula NH4NO3. You may associate ammonium nitrate with explosives; it's commonly used in safety explosives and pyrotechnics as well as fertilizer. Blending ammonium nitrate with certain other fertilizers can lower the critical relative humidity.[29]. Otherwise, it can coalesce into a large, solid mass. Ammonium nitrate was also used to create the explosives used in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings. Produced as small porous pellets, or “prills”, it’s one of the world’s most widely used fertilisers. Ammonium nitrate is a crystal-like white solid which is made in large industrial quantities. Another use of ammonium nitrate is in the food industry where it is used as a nutrient in producing antibiotics and yeast. The nitrate form moves readily with soil water to the roots, where it’s immediately available for plant uptake. Ammonium nitrate's advantage over urea is that it is more stable and does not rapidly lose nitrogen to the atmosphere. It has some military applications as well. Most countries have regulations controlling the storage of ammonium nitrate to make it safe. “Ammonium nitrate is the ammonium salt of nitric acid. It is a white crystalline solid consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. Ammonia produced by the Haber process can be oxidized to nitric acid by the Ostwald process. Health and safety data are shown on the safety data sheets available from suppliers and from various governments.[21][22][23]. Other uses include as a heat absorber in instant cold packs. But not all ammonium nitrate experiments end with a bang. Ammonium nitrate, (NH 4 NO 3), a salt of ammonia and nitric acid, used widely in fertilizers and explosives. Global production was estimated at 21.6 million tonnes in 2017. Ammonium nitrate has also been used as an oxidizer in some solid fuel rockets and to help deploy airbags in cars. Ammonium nitrate is an important fertilizer with NPK rating 34-0-0 (34% nitrogen). Ammonium nitrate was mined there in the past,[when?] The ammonia required for this process is obtained by the Haber process from nitrogen and hydrogen. It works both as a fertiliz… The chemical is applied in granule form into the soil and quickly dissolves under moisture, allowing nitrogen to be released. The prills or granules may be further dried, cooled, and then coated to prevent caking. Even so, plants can not use some of the nitrogen in either product until it has been converted to the Anitrate form. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. This type of fertilizer is typically sold in a granular form, although other preparations and combinations are possible. Solid ammonium nitrate decomposes on heating. Ammonium nitrate is a hazardous chemical that has many grades and is used in fertiliser and explosives products because of its unique properties. Numerous safety guidelines are available for storing and handling ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate is a common industrial chemical used mainly for fertiliser because it is a good source of nitrogen for plants. After the solution is formed, typically at about 83% concentration, the excess water is evaporated off to leave an ammonium nitrate (AN) content of 95% to 99.9% concentration (AN melt), depending on grade. [15] It is less concentrated than urea (46-0-0), giving ammonium nitrate a slight transportation disadvantage. Properties: UNIDO and International Fertilizer Development Center (1998), This page was last edited on 28 November 2020, at 03:22. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula NH4 NO3, and it's made by combining ammonia with nitric acid. Ammonium lactate is a moisturizer. Ammonium nitrate and urea both contain the element nitrogen, but in different forms. Another use of ammonium nitrate is in the food industry where it is used as a nutrient in producing antibiotics and yeast. It's also used to create controlled … https://www.ima-mineralogy.org/Minlist.htm, "The chemistry behind the Beirut explosion", "Advances in phase stabilization techniques of AN using KDN and other chemical compounds for preparing green oxidizers", "Nutrient Content of Fertilizer Materials", "Afghan bomb makers shifting to new explosives for IEDs", Airbag Compound Has Vexed Takata for Years. Both decomposition reactions are exothermic and their products are gas. It was reported that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored in a warehouse for six years without safety measures. "[17], Ammonium nitrate is used in some instant cold packs, as its dissolution in water is highly endothermic. It is used to make fertilizers and explosives. Ammonium nitrate has the chemical formula NH₄NO₃. What is ammonium nitrate? Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is an industrially-produced chemical fertilizer.It has the chemical formula NH 4 NO 3 and is used primarily to increase the nitrogen content of soil. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound widely used in farming as fertilizer. It is the major constituent of ANFO, a popular industrial explosive which accounts for 80% of explosives used in North America; similar formulations have been used in improvised explosive devices. Ammonium nitrate is an odorless, nearly colorless crystal salt. [32], Ammonium nitrate is not hazardous to health and is usually used in fertilizer products.[32][33][34]. Molten ammonium nitrate is very sensitive to shock and detonation, particularly if it becomes contaminated with incompatible materials such as combustibles, flammable liquids, acids, chlorates, chlorides, sulfur, metals, charcoal and sawdust. The following occur under atmospheric pressure. The red–orange colour in an explosion cloud is due to nitrogen dioxide, a secondary reaction product.[12]. 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