God Arises
Nature and Science Speak about God
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of electrical energy on the atmosphere, which
dissociates nitrogen and oxygen molecules, allows
the free atoms to form nitric oxide and nitrogen
dioxide, and this nitrogen compound is brought
down by rainfall to our fields. The amount of nitrate
obtained from nitrogen by this means, according to
one estimate, is five pounds per acre of soil, in each
year. This quantity is equal to 30 pounds of sodium
nitrate.
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Both these sources have proved inadequate in
meeting the nitrogen requirements of man, for
fields which are repeatedly cultivated over long
periods eventually run short of nitrogen. Hence the
practice of crop rotation by farmers. Owning to an
increase in population and intensive cultivation at
the beginning of the present century, a general
deficiency of nitrogen compound began to make
itself felt and man appeared to be heading for a
prolonged period of famine. It is strangely
significant that, at such a critical time, we
discovered the method of artificially preparing this
compound from the air. One of the several different
essays in this field entailed the artificial causation of
thunder and lightning in the atmosphere. A force of
