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Showing posts from September, 2009

How to Make Sodium Acetate From Household Ingredients

Sodium acetate is the sodium salt of acetic acid. It's also the primary flavoring in salt and vinegar potato chips. This Instructable will show how to make sodium acetate using common household ingredients. No special equipment of measuring is required. You can pretty much eyeball the whole process. Note : This is a bit smelly and can irritate the eyes and skin. This process is not sufficient to produce "hot ice". Too many contaminants. If you want to get a purified form for use in "hot ice" experiments, there's an instructable by indigoandblack that should help. It's more involved but much more likely to get the results you want. STEP 1:Materials You'll need: - sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) - acetic acid (vinegar) - microwavable glass or ceramic containers - coffee filters - spoon STEP 2: Chemical Reaction Put some baking soda in one of the containers. I used a heaping spoonful in a measuring cup. Add vinegar very slowly. Too much a

Organic Materials as Nitrogen Fertilizers

Quick Facts... Organic materials usually are added to soils to provide such plant nutrients as nitrogen and to improve the physical nature of the soil. Organic residues that have a low nitrogen content can cause nitrogen deficiencies in plants as microorganisms decompose the organic compounds. Inorganic nitrogen must be added with some organic fertilizers to prevent nitrogen deficiencies in Crops. Crop residues and organic wastes commonly are added to soils as sources of plant nutrients and to improve the physical properties of the soil. These materials do not contain the same quantity of nutrients. In fact, incorporating some organic materials into the soil can induce nitrogen deficiencies in plants. The composition of the added material determines whether nitrogen is released for plant growth or tied up in an unavailable form by the microorganisms that decompose the organic fertilizers. Ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen An important property of an organic residue that influences the