Azote was the old name for which element?

Nitrogen was discovered in 1772 by chemist and physician Daniel Rutherford, when he removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from air, demonstrating that the residual gas would not support living organisms or combustion, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Other scientists, including Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Joseph Priestly, were working on the same problem, and called nitrogen "burnt" air, or air without oxygen. In 1786, Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier, called nitrogen "azote," which means "lifeless." This was based on the observation that it is the part of air that cannot support life on its own.

One of the most important nitrogen compounds is ammonia (NH3), which can be produced in the so-called Haber-Bosch process, in which nitrogen is reacted with hydrogen. The colorless ammonia gas with a pungent smell can be easily liquefied into a nitrogen fertilizer. In fact, about 80 percent of ammonia that is produced is used as fertilizer. It is also used as a refrigerant gas; in the manufacture of plastics, textiles, pesticides and dyes; and in cleaning solutions, according to the New York Department of State.