Ammonia The story behind the gas.

A brief insight into the chemistry of ammonia:

 

Ammonia has a triangular pyramidal geometry, and boiling points of 77.7*C and 33.5*C. In its pure form ammonia was prepared in 1774 by Joseph Priestly, and its composition was determined in 1785 by Claude-Louis Berthollet. Ammonia has a chemical formula of NH3, and is sp3 hybridised. Ammonia is highly polarised, due to the electronegativity of nitrogen, and as a result, has a large dipole moment. Ammonias polarisation allows it to dissociate in water forming hydroxide and ammonium ions:

 

NH3 (aq) + H2O (l) Û NH4 (aq) + OH (aq)

 

Ammonia solutions are basic, due to the hydroxide ions formed in solution.

 

Ammonia is commercially produced by the Haber-Bosch process, which is also sometimes referred to as the Haber-Ammonia Process or Synthetic Ammonia Process. Fritz Haber, the German physical chemist, created the process in 1909, and it was further developed by Carl Bosch to make it economically viable. Both chemists won the Nobel prize for their work in this field; Haber in 1918 for its development, and Bosch in 1931 for creating high-pressure conditions which obtained a higher yield, economically.

June 21, 2007 | Filed Under Ammonia 

Comments

Leave a Reply