The main industrial use of hydrogen is in the production of ammonia by the Haber process.

Aluminum is the most familiar and useful metal in Group 13. It is found in nature as bauxite - Al₂O₃. Although this is a common ore, extracting aluminum from the ore was very difficult before the development of the Hall-Heroult process. Even today, it is easier to recycle aluminum than to separate it from bauxite.

The Hall-Heroult process involves the electrolytic decomposition of purified bauxite. The device is composed of a carbon-lined iron cell in which the electrolyte is a solution of bauxite in molten cryolite (Na₃AlF₆). Aluminum metal forms at the cathode by the reaction:

2Al₂O_{3 (l)} 4Al _(s) + 3O_{2 (g)}

The lightness and strength of aluminum alloys make them important structural materials in automobiles and airplanes. It is an excellent conductor of heat and useful in cooking utensils and aluminum foil.

Carbon is unique among the elements because of its ability to combine with itself and other elements to form an almost limitless number of compounds. More than 2 million carbon-containing compounds are known, with thousands more discovered each year. In contrast, there are only about 60,000 compounds known that do not contain carbon.

Carbon is found in nature in the form of coal and diamonds. The chemical difference between them is their crystalline structure, which gives them very different physical properties. Diamond is the hardest of all known substances. The abrasive properties of diamond give it countless industrial applications. Even though a diamond drill might be expensive, it is relatively cheap because it is so durable.

Pewter is made by adding a small amount of antimony to tin. "Fine" pewter contains no lead.

Nitrogen makes up about 80% of the air. At normal temperatures and atmospheric pressures, molecular nitrogen is almost inert. The major source of pure nitrogen is the fractional distillation of liquid air. Most of this nitrogen is used to produce ammonia by the Haber process. This process uses the reaction:

N_{2 (g)} + 3H_{2 (g)} 2NH_{3 (g)}

By increasing the temperature to 500 ^oC and the pressure to 1000 atmospheres, this reversible reaction can be forced to yield from 40% to 60% ammonia. This is a satisfactory rate for a commercial process. Ammonia is used as a cleaner, refrigerant, and the production of nitric acid.

Commercial production of nitric acid is accomplished using the Ostwald process. This three step process converts ammonia into nitric acid.

• 4NH_{3 (g)} + 5O_{2 (g)} 4NO_{2 (g)} + 6H₂O _(l)
  The reactants pass over a heated platinum gauze, which serves as a catalyst.
• 2NO _(g) + O_{2 (g)} 2NO_{2 (g)}
• 3NO_{2 (g)} + H₂O _(l) 2HNO_{3 (aq)} + NO _(g)

Most of the nitric acid produced in the United States is made into fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate. Nitric acid is also used in the manufacture of drugs, dyes, plastics, and explosives. Nitroglycerin and trinitrotoluene (TNT) are two commercial explosives.

Oxygen and sulfur are the two most important members of this family of elements. Oxygen makes up about 20% of the air. Oxygen is found in so many natural compounds that it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust. Oxygen is commercially obtained from the fractional distillation of liquefied air. Air is cooled under pressure to a temperature of -200 ^oC, then warmed to -195.8 ^oC. Nitrogen boils off at this stage. The air is then warmed to -185.7 ^oC where argon boils off. What remains is nearly pure oxygen, which boils at -183 ^oC.

Much of the commercially prepared oxygen is used in the making of steel. But large amounts are used in welding torches and medical applications. Oxygen occurs in two allotropes, forms of the same element that have different molecular structures. The allotropes of oxygen are diatomic oxygen, O₂, and triatomic ozone, O₃. The action of ultraviolet light or an electric spark on diatomic oxygen produces ozone, which is a poisonous, bluish gas with a sharp odor. Ozone is important to life on earth because it absorbs much of the ultraviolet light from the sun that would otherwise damage living things.

Sulfur exists in a number of allotropes, most of which consist of molecules with eight covalently joined atoms. Sulfur occurs as a yellow solid and in compounds such as galens, PbS; cinnabar, HgS; and pyrite, FeS. Most of the naturally occuring free sulfur in the United States lies under layers of quicksand in Louisiana and Texas. It is mined using the Frasch process. This process uses three concentric pipes drilled into the solid sulfur. Water at 180 ^oC is forced down the outside pipe to melt the sulfur. Hot, compressed air pumped through the inside pipe mixes with the molton sulfur and forces it up the middle pipe to the surface.

Sulfur has a wide range of uses including the production of fungicides, insecticides, matches, drugs, dyes, and rubber. However, the principal use of sulfur is in the making of sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is the most important and widely used of all manufactured compounds. Commercial H₂SO₄ is prepared by the four step contact process.

• S _(s) + O_{2 (g)} SO_{2 (g)}
• 2SO_{2 (g)} + O_{2 (g)} 2SO_{3 (g)}
  Vanadium (V) oxide is used as a catalyst in step two. The reactants are absorbed on the surface of the V₂O₅ - hence the name "contact process".
• SO_{3 (g)} + H₂SO_{4 (aq)} H₂SO₄ ^. SO_{3 (aq)}
• H₂O _(l) + H₂SO₄ ^. SO_{3 (aq)} 2H₂SO_{4 (l)}
  This process produces sulfuric acid that is about 98% pure.

These gases are extremely inactive because of their electron configurations. Although they are sometimes called "inert", many noble gases can be made to react slightly with fluorine. Helium and argon are the only noble gases for which compounds are not known. Although they are sometimes called "rare", argon and helium are relatively abundant.

All noble gases except helium are recovered from liquid air. Helium is obtained from natural gas wells, where it occurs more abundantly than in the atmosphere and is more easily recovered.

Most of the commercial uses for noble gases stem from their chemical stability. Helium is used in weather balloons; neon, argon, and krypton are used to provide a nonoxidizing atmosphere for welding; incandescent lightbulbs are filled with argon and krypton; and helium, argon, and neon are used in lighted signs.