Talk:Nitrate

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1 Picture of Nitrate
2 Amyl nitrate or nitrite
3 Surface water nitrate
4 Miscellaneous

[edit] Picture of Nitrate

Is the picture misleading as it has 3 (-) charges on the oxygens and a (+) charge on the Nitrogen? I think that this resonance structure would make better sense if the (-) charges were denoted as partial negative charges.

[edit] Amyl nitrate or nitrite

I believe that the medical work of T. L. Brunton was with amyl nitrite, not amyl nitrate. See the following: T. L. Brunton, "On the use of nitrite of amyl in angina pectoris", Lancet, 2 97, 1867. (I'm putting this at the top of this discussion page in hopes someone will see it. Move as necessary.) -- Astrochemist 00:57, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I forgot to add that I'm pretty sure F. Guthrie worked with amyl nitrite, not amyl nitrate. -- Astrochemist 01:05, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Surface water nitrate

The description of nitrate entry into surface waters:

"The principal pathway of entering aquatic systems is through surface runoff from agricultural or landscaped areas which have received excess nitrate fertilizer."

This is inconsistent with the map image of global nitrate concentrations, which shows that the souther oceans, surrounding the not-highly-fertilized south pole, has the highest levels of nitrate.

Well, it's not really inconsistent at all. A major source of nitrate for the oceans is still runoff from rivers. This may be a small flux compared to the standing stock of nitrate (cf. the Southern Ocean), but it's not incorrect. As it happens, according to Tyrrell (1999, Nature 400, 525-531) the largest flux of N into the oceans is via nitrogen fixation (4.9x10¹² mol y^-1), followed by atmospheric deposition (2.7x10¹² mol ^-1), followed by riverine runoff (2.2x10¹² mol ^-1). However, nitrogen fixation isn't as well quantified a flux as the others (more difficult to measure than what does down rivers). Does this help? --Plumbago 11:03, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Further to my earlier note, I see what you mean now about the section this text appears in. It needs to be clearer that it's referring to freshwater or estuarine systems close to land. It's got nothing to do with the open oceans. I've started tweaking the text, but it still needs to be clearer. Anyway, thanks for drawing attention this way. Cheesr, --Plumbago 11:23, 1 September 2006 (UTC)