How To Study the Chemical Reactions of Ammonia

Ammonia is one of the most produced chemicals in the world.A variety of uses can be served by the compound.Depending on your background in chemistry and access to equipment, you can either read about the compound or experiment with it in the lab.Even the synthesis of the compound requires preparation, as ammonia can react in many ways.

Step 1: Determine the use of ammonia in farming.

Plants need nitrogen to grow.Ammonia can be mixed into the soil.nitrite and nitrate are compounds.Plants can easily use these compounds for growth.You can learn more about the amount of ammonia in your soil by taking the nitrogen compounds from the soil in a lab test.Add a lot of oxygen to your sample by putting it in an oven.Nitrogen compounds will cause NOx at this temperature.The amount of nitrogen in the soil can be determined by the volume of NOx gases present.

Step 2: Take a look at named reactions of ammonia.

Ammonia has many uses and some of them are named.The synthesis of nitric acid can be accomplished by combining ammonia with excess oxygen under certain conditions.The NO2 is absorbed by the water and converted to nitric acid.The Solvay process bubbles carbon dioxide through a solution of saltwater and ammonia.Specific reactions got their own names because they met a need using ammonia.

Step 3: Consider how ammonia affects the environment.

Ammonia can be found in the form of the NH4 during wine making.yeast uses this compound to make cellular materials.Without nitrogen, the yeast wouldn't be able to reproduce and convert the sugar in the grapes to alcohol.

Step 4: Understand how ammonia behaves in water.

Ammonia is a Lewis base in water.It takes a hydrogen molecule from the water to make NH3.This raises the pH of the solution.A tube of ammonia can be turned upside-down in water.The water level in the tube will rise as ammonia enters the water.

Step 5: Understand the ammonia molecule's stability.

Ammonia is stable.It is able to tolerate light or heat.Even though ammonia is caustic, it won't damage mild steel or glass, but it will damage galvanized steel, copper, zinc and some other metals.Ammonia can be used to make bombs.For this reason, mercury and silver should not be exposed to ammonia.

Step 6: Ammonia can be considered under basic or acidic conditions.

Ammonia reacts with acids.There are strong acids, weak acids and Lewis acids.Ammonia doesn't allow strongly acidic solutions because of its ability to react with acids.It creates strong basic solutions by dissolving some bases.It is possible to make Ammonium Sulfate in a lab.Put sulfuric acid and ammonia into a dish.The water will evaporate and the crystals will form on the dish.The acid is corrosive.Gloves, goggles, and protective clothing are required.Do not inhale ammonia fumes.

Step 7: The reactions of ammonia are studied.

Ammonia reacts very violently.A type of reaction called ammonolysis is what this results in.One of the hydrogen atoms in ammonia is replaced by a different type of atom.Ammonia and halogens are very common, but it isn't the only one.Other compounds can replace hydrogen.You can see a safe version of this by soaking the cotton in ammonia and hydrogen chloride.Wait for a ring of white powder to appear when you put the wads in opposite ends of a glass tube.There is a powder in this picture.

Step 8: Remember that there are redox reactions.

There are oxidation-reduction reactions with ammonia.Ammonia will burn in the presence of oxygen gas to make H2O and N2Ammonia can be used to reduce the oxidation of hot metals such as cupric oxide.You can demonstrate ammonia's potential for reactions by watching a reaction.It's a good idea to do this on a heat proof surface.

Step 9: Nitrogen and hydrogen are necessary reactants.

Consider the chemical equation of ammonia.The equation shows that one nitrogen molecule must bond to 3 hydrogen molecule to form the compound.A chemical reactor with a catalyst has a ratio of 3 hydrogen to 1 nitrogen.

Step 10: A catalyst is needed to accelerate the reaction.

The catalyst doesn't react directly with the reactants.It's a way to speed up the reaction that would happen anyways.The catalyst in the formation of ammonia is an iron compound.The overall percentage of ammonia that is formed in the end will not be increased by using the catalyst.

Step 11: Consider the effects of heat on the reaction.

ammonia production has a double-edged sword.It is possible to get the best conversion of N and H into NH3.You also slow down the reaction by lowering temperatures.A temperature between 400 and 450 C is used by most ammonia manufacturers.The shift of N and H to NH3 will be affected by heat.

Step 12: Determine how pressure will change the reaction.

The conversion of N and H to NH3 can be changed with pressure changes.The reaction that forms ammonia will be promoted if you use a higher pressure.A high pressure of around 200 atmospheres is used by most manufacturers.A middle ground is often sought to produce ammonia in a cost-effective way because creating extremely high pressures is expensive.

Step 13: You can study the technique for ammonia production.

Nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas will be at a high temperature and pressure once you have successfully produced ammonia.It's possible to liquefy ammonia more quickly than nitrogen or hydrogen.To allow the ammonia to form as a liquid, you should cool the gasses to around 34.4C (29.9F).The reaction chamber makes more ammonia by recycling the remaining gases.