A Thorium Nitride, Th3N4, was first obtained as a white powder by Chydenius, who heated a mixture of thorium and ammonium chlorides in a current of hydrogen chloride gas; Moissan and Etard also obtained a nitride by heating the carbide in a stream of ammonia. The nitride may also be prepared by heating a mixture of thoria and magnesium or aluminium in a current of nitrogen, or by strongly heating the metal itself in the same gas. Thus obtained it is a yellowish maroon powder having the composition Th3N4; it is slowly. decomposed by cold water, quickly by hot, according to the reaction:
Th3N4 + 6H2O = 3ThO2 + 4NH3. |