NO3 vs NOx discussion

[soerenthomsen]

Copied over from gdoc!

@gkrahmann

"Somewhere we have to discuss the NO3 vs NOx issue. At the moment it's not handled well (at least for UV)."

[gkrahmann]

another complication:

NOx is typically used for NO + NO2
https://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-environment/ecology-and-environmentalism/environmental-studies/nox-nitrogen-oxides

in some parts of our community and also by myself and even the manufacturers it is also used for

N2O- + N3O-

which is of course something entirely different!!!
Not being a chemist, I have never properly though this through,
but now I am wondering why we (or anybody else) do not use NxO- ????

[mpatey]

Do you mean NO2- + NO3- (not N2O- + N3O-)?

[gkrahmann]

see, I am not a chemist ;-)
Indeed you are correct and I should not try to understand things on a Friday late afternoon...
Still it leaves the problem that NOx is used by another community for something else
Would we then use NOx- ?

[mpatey]

I tend to avoid using NO_x to mean NO₂^- + NO₃^-, because I first encountered it when studying atmospheric chemistry, and I consider it confusing to use it for something else. However, you are right that this usage is common (a quick google search seems to suggest that this is particularly the case in medical and biochemistry journals).

I sometimes use NO₂₊₃^- and I have occasionally seen NO_2/3^-, which I think are clearer but are not standardised.

If we need to use some shorthand, then whatever is chosen should be defined somewhere in the same document.