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Ammonia as a gas is colourless and very pungent to the human nose. An aqueous form of hydrogen and nitrogen is used in the production of ammonia hydroxide. Ammonia is often available in nature but is also produced as a fertiliser because it enriches the soil with its nitrogen. You’ll be shocked to know this, but ammonia is produced in the human gut in order to help us digest food with the help of good bacteria. It is also used as an industrial cleaning agent in the majority of industries to clean industrial equipment. Let us study the structure of ammonia and its properties in order to understand more about the element.
Structure of ammonia (NH3)
As we have read earlier, and as the formula of ammonia (NH3) also shows, ammonia is made of 3 hydrogen atoms and 1 nitrogen atom, they are arranged in the following pattern:
A nitrogen atom is centrally located and is surrounded by 3 hydrogen atoms in order to make an ammonium molecule. The molecular weight of ammonia is 17.031 g/mol and it has a density of 0.73kg/m3. Ammonia is put in the category of weak bases, as it gives salts along with some other compounds when it reacts with certain bases. Ammonium chloride can be considered as an example for this case, which is produced when ammonia reacts with hydrochloric acid.
The salts produced by ammonia during acid and base reactions have the presence of ammonium cations (NH4+) in them. The amphoteric compound is referred to as a compound that is actually basic in nature yet exhibits some acidic tendencies; you’ll be shocked to know that ammonia is a perfect example of an amphoteric compound. This conclusion can be drawn by studying the chemical reaction of liquid ammonia with lithium, which yields lithium amide.
How is ammonia formed?
If we talk about the largest produced inorganic chemicals in the world, ammonia will definitely be on the list. 175 million tonnes of ammonia is produced globally with China being the number one producer, followed by Russia and India. Before World War I, most ammonia was produced via dry distillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal products, but later, as the demand for ammonia started rising, ammonia was produced industrially. Ammonia is a compound that is available in nature and is also produced in the laboratory, to produce ammonia. Ammonium salt (NH4Cl) is heated with an alkali like calcium hydroxide. The resultant reaction is:
2NH4Cl + Ca(OH)2 → CaCl2 + 2H2O + 2NH3(g)
The Haber process is used to produce ammonia on a large scale; it is nothing but subjecting a combination of hydrogen and nitrogen to an extreme pressure with some catalyst.
Major uses of ammonia
Ammonia is an extremely efficient cleaning agent which can be used to clean glass and stainless steel. It is also often used in manufacturing fertilisers due to its nitrogen content.
Ammonia is extremely useful in fighting the growth of bacteria in food.
Ammonia can also be used to fight against pollution as it can neutralise nitrogen oxide, which is mainly produced in the combustion of diesel.
It finds another useful application as a fuel for firing up rocket engines.
It is utilised in the textile industry in the production of synthetic fibres.
Conclusion
Ammonia is a colourless gas that has a strong odour. It is the simplest pictogen hydride and a stable binary hydride. Ammonia is used in many commercial cleaning products and is a direct or indirect building block in the creation of many pharmaceutical drugs. It is usually produced by the Haber process in which a combination of hydrogen and nitrogen is subjected to extreme pressure with some catalyst used to obtain ammonia. Ammonia was historically frequently employed as a refrigerant. It has mostly been superseded by chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, both of which are being studied for their environmental impact. The most common usage of ammonia in the home is in glass cleaners.
