Ammonium nitrate \(\left(\mathrm{NH}_{4} \mathrm{NO}_{3}\right)\) is the most important nitrogen-containing fertilizer in the world. Describe how you would prepare this compound, given only air and water as the starting materials. You may have any device at your disposal for this task.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Ammonium Nitrate is synthesized from air and water by first using the Haber process to convert nitrogen and hydrogen to ammonia. Then, through the Ostwald process, ammonia is oxidized to produce nitric acid. In the final step, ammonia produced earlier neutralizes the nitric acid to result in the production of Ammonium Nitrate.

Step by step solution

01

Synthesis of Ammonia

The preparation starts by converting atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia using the Haber process. Nitrogen from the air is combined with hydrogen from water in the presence of a metal catalyst under high temperature and pressure to produce ammonia. The reaction is \(N_{2(g)} + 3H_{2(g)} \rightarrow 2NH_{3(g)}\).
02

Synthesis of Nitric Acid

The next step is the production of nitric acid via the Ostwald process. This involves the oxidation of the obtained ammonia using a platinum catalyst to produce nitrogen dioxide. The nitrogen dioxide is then absorbed in water to form nitric acid. The overall reaction is: \(4NH_{3(g)} + 5O_{2(g)} \rightarrow 4NO_{(g)} + 6H_{2}O_{(g)}\) and then \(3 NO_{(g)} + H_{2}O_{(g)} \rightarrow 2HNO_{3}(l) + NO_{(g)}\).
03

Preparation of Ammonium Nitrate

Finally, the nitric acid synthesized in step 2 is neutralized with the ammonia produced in step 1 to produce ammonium nitrate. The chemical reaction is \(NH_{3(g)} + HNO_{3(aq)} \rightarrow NH_{4}NO_{3(aq)}\)

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