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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:n2o3:54ba3a798cec",
    "title": "N2O3",
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    "verified_text": "n2o3, no2, n2o5; these are known respectively as nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen trioxide, nitrogen peroxide and nitrogen pentoxide. the affixes -_ous_ and _sub_- refer to the compounds containing more of the positive element, -_ic_ and _per_- to those containing less. an _acid_ (q.v.) is a compound of hydrogen, which element can be replaced by metals, the hydrogen being liberated, giving substances named _salts_. an _alkali_ or _base_ is a substance which neutralizes an acid with the production of salts but with no evolution of hydrogen. a base may be regarded as water in which part of the hydrogen is replaced by a metal, or by a radical which behaves as a metal. (the term _radical_ is given to a group of atoms which persist in chemical changes, behaving as if the group were an element; the commonest is the ammonium group, nh4, which forms salts similar to the salts of sodium and potassium.) if the acid contains no oxygen it is a _hydracid_, and its systematic name is formed from the prefix _hydro_- and the name of the other element or radical, the last syllable of which has been replaced by the termination -_ic_. for example, the acid formed by hydrogen and chlorine is termed hydrochloric acid (and sometimes hydrogen chloride). if an acid contains oxygen it is termed an _oxyacid_. the nomenclature of acids follows the same general lines as that for binary compounds. if one acid be known its name is formed by the termination -_ic_, e.g. carbonic acid; if two, the one containing the less amount of oxygen takes the termination _-ous_ and the other the termination -_ic_, e.g. nitrous acid, hno2, nitric acid, hno3. if more than two be known, the one inferior in oxygen content has the prefix _hypo_- and the termination -_ous_, and the one superior in oxygen content has the prefix _per_- and the termination -_ic_. this is illustrated in the four oxyacids of chlorine, hclo, hclo2, hclo3, hclo4, which have the names hypochlorous, chlorous, chloric and perchloric acids. an acid is said to be monobasic, dibasic, tribasic, &c., according to the number of replaceable hydrogen atoms; thus hno3 is monobasic, sulphuric acid h2so4 dibasic, phosphoric acid h3po4 tribasic. an acid terminating in -_ous_ forms a salt ending in -_ite_, and an oxyacid ending in -_ic_ forms a salt ending in -_ate_. thus the chlorine oxyacids enumerated above form salts named respectively hypochlorites, chlorites, chlorates and perchlorates. salts formed from hydracids terminate in -_ide_, following the rule for binary compounds. an _acid_ salt is one in which the whole amount of hydrogen has not been replaced by metal; a _normal_ salt is one in which all the hydrogen has been replaced; and a _basic_ salt is one in which part of the acid of the normal salt has been replaced by oxygen. _chemical formulae._--opposite the name of each element in the second column of the above table, the symbol is given which is always employed to represent it. this symbol, however, not only represents the particular element, but a certain definite quantity of it. thus, the letter h always stands for 1 atom or 1 part by weight of hydrogen, the letter n for 1 atom or 14 parts of nitrogen, and the symbol cl for 1 atom or 35.5 parts of chlorine.[8] compounds are in like manner represented by writing the symbols of their constituent elements side by side, and if more than one atom of each element be present, the number is indicated by a numeral placed on the right of the symbol of the element either below or above the line. thus, hydrochloric acid is represented by the formula hcl, that is to say, it is a compound of an atom of hydrogen with an atom of chlorine, or of 1 part by weight of hydrogen with 35.5 parts by weight of chlorine; again, sulphuric acid is represented by the formula h2so4, which is a statement that it consists of 2 atoms of hydrogen, 1 of sulphur, and 4 of oxygen, and consequently of certain relative weights of these elements. a figure placed on the right of a symbol only affects the symbol to which it is attached, but when figures are placed in front of several symbols all are affected by it, thus 2h2so4 means h2so4 taken twice. the distribution of weight in chemical change is readily expressed in the form of equations by the aid of these symbols; the equation 2hcl + zn = zncl2 + h2, for example, is to be read as meaning that from 73 parts of hydrochloric acid and 65 parts of zinc, 136 parts of zinc chloride and 2 parts of hydrogen are produced. the + sign is invariably employed in this way either to express combination or action upon, the meaning usually attached to the use of the sign = being that from such and such bodies such and such other bodies are formed. usually, when the symbols of the elements are written or printed with a figure to the right, it is understood that this indicates a molecule of the element, the symbol alone representing an atom. thus, the symbols h2 and p4 indicate that the molecules of hydrogen and phosphorus respectively contain 2 and 4 atoms. since, according to the molecular theory, in all cases of chemical change the action is between molecules, such symbols as these ought always to be employed. thus, the formation of hydrochloric acid from hydrogen and chlorine is correctly represented by the equation h2 + cl2 = 2hcl; that is to say, a molecule of hydrogen and a molecule of chlorine give rise to two molecules of hydrochloric acid; whilst the following equation merely represents the relative weights of the elements which enter into reaction, and is not a complete expression of what is supposed to take place:-- h + cl = hcl. in all cases it is usual to represent substances by formulae which to the best of our knowledge express their molecular composition in the state of gas, and not merely the relative number of atoms which they contain; thus, acetic acid consists of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in the proportion of one atom of carbon, two of hydrogen, and one of oxygen, but its molecular weight corresponds to the formula c2h4o2, which therefore is always employed to represent acetic acid. when chemical change is expressed with the aid of molecular formulae not only is the distribution of weight represented, but by the mere inspection of the symbols it is possible to deduce from the law of gaseous combination mentioned above, the relative volumes which the agents and resultants occupy in the state of gas if measured at the same temperature and under the same pressure. thus, the equation 2h2 + o2= 2h2o not only represents that certain definite weights of hydrogen and oxygen furnish a certain definite weight of the compound which we term water, but that if the water in the state of gas, the hydrogen and the oxygen are all measured at the same temperature and pressure, the volume occupied by the oxygen is only half that occupied by the hydrogen, whilst the resulting water-gas will only occupy the same volume as the hydrogen. in other words, 2 volumes of oxygen and 4 volumes of hydrogen furnish 4 volumes of water-gas. a simple equation like this, therefore, when properly interpreted, affords a large amount of information. one other instance may be given; the equation 2nh3 = n2 + 3h2 represents the decomposition of ammonia gas into nitrogen and hydrogen gases by the electric spark, and it not only conveys the information that a certain relative weight of ammonia, consisting of certain relative weights of hydrogen and nitrogen, is broken up into certain relative weights of hydrogen and nitrogen, but also that the nitrogen will be contained in half the space which contained the ammonia, and that the volume of the hydrogen will be one and a half times as great as that of the original ammonia, so that in the decomposition of ammonia the volume becomes doubled. formulae which merely express the relative number of atoms of the different elements present in a compound are termed _empirical formulae_, and the formulae of all compounds whose molecular weights are undetermined are necessarily empirical. the _molecular formula_ of a compound, however, is always a simple multiple of the empirical formula, if not identical with it; thus, the empirical formula of acetic acid is",
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