Nitrate test to 2.5 micrograms and a concentration of 1 in 25,000 parts. Devarda's alloy (Copper/Aluminium/Zinc) is a reducing agent. When reacted with nitrate in sodium hydroxide solution, ammonia is liberated. The ammonia formed may be detected by its characteristic odor, and by damp red litmus paper's turning blue, signalling that it is an alkali — very few gases other than ammonia evolved from wet chemistry are alkaline. Aluminium is the reducing agent in this reaction that will occur. Diphenylamine may be used as a wet chemical test for the presence of the nitrate ion. In this test, a solution of diphenylamine
Plutonium in the environment released into the environment in aqueous solution from nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment plants. The chemistry of this plutonium is different from that of the metal oxides formed from nuclear bomb detonations. One example of a site where plutonium entered the soil is Rocky Flats where in the recent past XANES (X-ray spectroscopy) has been used to determine the chemical nature of the plutonium in the soil. The XANES was used to determine the oxidation state of the plutonium, while EXAFS was used to investigate the structure of the plutonium compound present in the soil and concrete. Because plutonium oxide