Preparing Reactants and Making Products

[MysticDude]

Homework Statement

1) Having nitrogen gas, hydrogen gas, and oxygen gas, obtains ammonium nitrate (write down the equation for each step).

Homework Equations

Nitrogen gas = N₂
Hydrogen gas = H₂
Oxygen gas = O₂

The Attempt at a Solution

So we have 2N₂ + 4H₂ + 3O₂ -> (NH₄)₂(NO₃)₂ but we have to prepare it.

Well, I know that having a Nonmetal + Oxygen makes a Nonmetal Oxide.
So I'm thinking of making 2NO₃ first.
So then I would have N₂ + 4H₂ + 2NO₃.
I'm not sure that just doing N₂ + 4H₂ will make NH₄. After that, will 2NH₄+ 2NO₃ even make the correct product?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Borek]

What is ammonium nitrate? What is its correct formula? How is it obtained not starting from th elements, but from reagents that are present in almost any lab?

 

[MysticDude]

Ammonium nitrate is a salt.
NH₄NO₃.
I can't really answer the last question.

 

[Borek]

Does something like NO₃ exists?

Does something like NH₄ exists?

Ammonium nitrate is a salt, it means it can be prepared using nitric acid. How?

 

[DeeNos]

I appreciate your attempt at solving this problem. However, there are a few things that need to be clarified. Firstly, the equation you have written down is not balanced. The correct balanced equation for the reaction is:

NH3 + 2HNO3 -> (NH4)NO3

This means that for every one molecule of ammonia (NH3), we need two molecules of nitric acid (HNO3) to produce one molecule of ammonium nitrate ((NH4)NO3).

Also, in the homework statement, it is mentioned that we have nitrogen gas (N2), hydrogen gas (H2), and oxygen gas (O2). In your attempt, you have used nitric acid (HNO3) which is a liquid and cannot be obtained from these gases.

To prepare the reactants, we can use the Haber process, which is the industrial method for producing ammonia. In this process, nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas are reacted in the presence of a catalyst at high pressure and temperature to produce ammonia gas. The equation for this reaction is:

N2 + 3H2 -> 2NH3

Once we have ammonia gas, we can then react it with nitric acid to produce ammonium nitrate. The final balanced equation would be:

NH3 + 2HNO3 -> (NH4)NO3

Overall, the process can be summarized as follows:

N2 + 3H2 -> 2NH3 (Haber process)
NH3 + 2HNO3 -> (NH4)NO3 (production of ammonium nitrate)

I hope this helps clarify the steps needed to prepare the reactants and produce the product. Keep up the good work in your scientific studies!