Industrially, nitric acid is produced by the Ostwald process represented by the following equations: $$ \begin{aligned} 4 \mathrm{NH}_{3}(g)+5 \mathrm{O}_{2}(g) & \longrightarrow 4 \mathrm{NO}(g)+6 \mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}(l) \\ 2 \mathrm{NO}(g)+\mathrm{O}_{2}(g) & \longrightarrow 2 \mathrm{NO}_{2}(g) \\\2 \mathrm{NO}_{2}(g)+\mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}(l) & \longrightarrow \mathrm{HNO}_{3}(a q)+\mathrm{HNO}_{2}(a q) \end{aligned}$$What mass of \(\mathrm{NH}_{3}\) (in grams) must be used to produce 1.00 ton of \(\mathrm{HNO}_{3}\) by the above procedure, assuming an 80 percent yield in each step? ( 1 ton = \(2000 \mathrm{lb} ; 1 \mathrm{lb}=453.6 \mathrm{~g} .)\)

Nitric acid (HNO3) is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid with a wide range of industrial applications, from fertilizers to explosives. The industrial synthesis of nitric acid is predominantly done through the Ostwald process, a method that revolves around the oxidation of ammonia (NH3).

The Ostwald process can be summarized in three main reactions. First, ammonia is oxidized to nitric oxide (NO), then to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and finally, nitrogen dioxide is combined with water to produce nitric acid. Each step involves careful control of temperature and pressure to ensure optimal yield. The efficiency of this process is vital to the cost-effectiveness of producing nitric acid on an industrial scale.

Stoichiometry is the branch of chemistry that deals with the quantitative relationships between the reactants and products in a chemical reaction. It allows chemists to predict the amounts of substances consumed and produced in a given reaction, based on the coefficients from the balanced chemical equations.

For example, the Ostwald process outlines specific mole-to-mole conversions between reactants and products. Using this information, stoichiometry provides the calculations necessary to determine how much ammonia is needed to produce a specific amount of nitric acid. These calculations are crucial when scaling up reactions for industrial production, to ensure that all materials are used efficiently, thereby reducing waste and increasing yield.

Percent yield is a measure of the efficiency of a chemical reaction, indicating the ratio between the actual yield and the theoretical yield (as predicted by stoichiometry) multiplied by 100%. It is an essential concept in both laboratory and industrial chemistry as it helps in evaluating the effectiveness of a reaction.

In industrial settings like the Ostwald process, factors such as incomplete reactions, side reactions, and loss of product can lead to a lower-than-expected percent yield. As in the given problem, if every step of the Ostwald process is 80% efficient, the overall percent yield decreases significantly with each subsequent reaction step. Understanding and calculating percent yield allows chemists to optimize reactions, improve production methods, and gauge the economic feasibility of the process.