Nanosecond-pulses Create PolyNitrogen for Future Clean Energy Source | NextBigFuture.com

Scientists have long theorized that the energy stored in the atomic bonds of nitrogen could one day be a source of clean energy. But coaxing the nitrogen atoms into linking up has been a daunting task. Researchers at Drexel University’s C&J Nyheim Plasma Institute have finally proven that it’s experimentally possible — with some encouragement from a liquid plasma spark. Reported in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, the production of pure polymeric nitrogen — polynitrogen — is possible by zapping a compound called sodium azide with a jet of plasma in the middle of a super-cooling cloud of