John Hughes Davies. the Effect of the Silent Electrical Discharge on the Ammonia System*

As early as 1785 Claude Louis Berthollet (17481822) studied the decomposition of ammonia by electric sparking. He found that 0.725 by volume of hydrogen and 0.275 by volume of nitrogen were produced. Several other workers confirmed this effect of sparking but noted that some NH3 always remains. The partial formation of NH3 when mixtures of H2 and N2 were subjected to various forms of electrical discharge was also observed. In other words, the system is reversible (2).