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Manufacturing Ammonia

Haber Process Ammonia ($\text{NH}_{3}$) is manufactured from nitrogen and hydrogen by the Haber process (which is a reversible reaction). Starting Ingredients – Nitrogen & Hydrogen Nitrogen is obtained from the fractional distillation of liquid air. Hydrogen is obtained from steam reforming of natural gas: $\text{CH}_{4}(\text{g}) + 2\text{H}_{2}\text{O}(\text{g}) \rightarrow \text{CO}_{2}(\text{g})+4\text{H}_{2}(\text{g})$ cracking of petroleum fractions: $\text{C}_{2}\text{H}_{6}(\text{g}) \rightarrow \text{C}_{2}\text{H}_{4}(\text{g}) + \text{H}_{2}(\text{g})$ Equation of…

Reversible Reaction

A reversible reaction ($\rightleftharpoons$) is a reaction that can take place in both directions – i.e. forward reaction and backward reaction. When the rate of forward reaction is equal to the rate of backward reaction, the reaction is said to have reached a state of dynamic equilibrium. When a chemical reaction reaches a state of dynamic equilibrium: the rate of…

Salts

A salt is an ionic compound formed when the hydrogen atom in an acid is replaced by a metal ion or ammonium ion. Note: Please do not restrict your thinking/interpretation of “salt” to the normal “table salt” in your kitchen. Neutralization is one common reaction whereby a salt is produced. An acid reacts with a base (neutralization reaction) to produce…

Oxides

Elements react with oxygen (aka. burn in oxygen) in the atmosphere to form oxides. Oxides are classified as: Acidic Basic Amphoteric Neutral   Acidic Oxides Acidic oxides react with water to form acids. Recall: Solutions of these acids in water have a pH value of less than 7. Acidic oxides are oxides of non-metals, which is also known as non-metallic…

pH Scale & Indicators

The pH scale (as shown in the figure above) is used to measure the acidity or alkalinity of an aqueous solution. The pH scale is numbered between 0 to 14. For reference, the equation for pH is given by: $$\text{pH} =-\text{lg} [\text{H}^{+}]$$ pH is given by the negative logarithm of the concentration of hydrogen ions ($[\text{H}^{+}]$). You can see that…