hostilemolecule.com

In Praise of Nitric Acid

HNO3 — the stern alchemist’s aide: precise, transformative, and utterly uncompromising.

What it is

Nitric acid (HNO3) is a strong mineral acid and oxidizer. In the lab it’s the scalpel: it strips, etches, nitrates, and measures with unforgiving clarity.

NH3 ⟶ HNO3 ⟶ NO3− — modern chemistry’s quiet backbone.

Why it’s magnificent

  • Transformation: turns ammonia into plant‑available nitrate — feeding much of the planet.
  • Precision: cleans & passivates metals; etches microstructures for electronics and research.
  • Truth‑telling: in analysis, nitration & redox chemistry reveal what’s really there.

Where it shows up

  • Fertilizers: nitrate production after the Haber–Bosch step.
  • Materials: steel passivation; alloy identification with spot tests.
  • Microfab: photolithography cleans & controlled etching mixes.
  • Heritage chemistry: with HCl as aqua regia, it dissolves noble metals — an alchemist’s legend turned method.

Respect, always

HNO3 is hazardous. Fuming grades and nitration chemistry demand training, ventilation, PPE, and regulation. This site is an homage, not a how‑to.

Handled by professionals, it enables life‑sustaining industries and exacting science. Handled carelessly, it injures. Choose the first.

Why “Hostile Molecule”?

Because nitric acid is not friendly — it is honest. It does what it does with austere reliability. In a noisy world, that kind of clarity is beautiful.