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What Is Urea Used for?

Urea is a nitrogen-containing substance found in the body. It is cleared from the blood by kidneys and manufactured into urine. Diseases that attack the body and compromise the function of kidneys often result in increased levels of urea in the blood and are measured by medical professionals using the blood urea nitrogen test (or BUN).

  1. The Facts

    • Urea has a variety of uses that include dyes and fertilization. Given enough time, urea will break down into a form of ammonia. When dyeing urea gets a strong, particular smell, it is no longer useful for dyeing but can be used for fertizing because it has turned into ammonia.

    History

    • Urea has an important place in scientific history because it was the first organic compound that was synthesized. According to Medical Net, Friedrich Wohler, a German chemist, accidentally made urea in 1828 when he tried to make ammonium cyanate from silver cyanide and ammonium chloride. This experiment was pivotal to disproving the theory of vitalism--a popular concept that said that organic chemicals can only be changed and altered using chemical means--and showing that living organisms are needed to produce organic chemicals.

    Features

    • Wohler went on to discover that ammonium cyanate and urea have the same chemical formula, according to Medicine Net. Although they have the same formula, they vary in their chemical properties. This is the case due to a phenomenon called isomerism in which chemical compounds have the same type and number of atoms but whose atoms have a different configuration, creating different chemical properties.

    Uses

    • Due to its high nitrogen conent (46 percent), urea is a popular nitrogen fertilizer. This fertilizer is manufactured mostly in solid form (as small crystals), according to ICIS. Urea is also used to manufacture urea-formaldehyde resins. These resins are used in plywood, board, paper, surface coatings, leather and textile processing. Furthermore, urea is also used by the adhesive industry because its application to the synthesis of melamine-formaldehyde and as a constituent of different cattle feeds.

    Function

    • Urea has two primary purposes, according to PBurch, in its application to dyes. One purpose is to allow for the strongest possible color of the dye by dissolving more dye per given volume and the other purpose is to act as a water attractor (or a humectant) and keep fabric damp until the reaction occurs. It is also important to note that too much urea can actually make it harder to dissolve some dyes so the amount of urea must be monitored carefully.

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