haber process...

[babydoll_]

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HOw did you guys answer this d/p?

� "gather and process information from secondary sources to describe the conditions under which Haber developed the industrial synthesis of ammonia and evaluate its significance at that time in world history"

[elizabethy]

Originally posted by BaByDoLL11^^
HOw did you guys answer this d/p?

� "gather and process information from secondary sources to describe the conditions under which Haber developed the industrial synthesis of ammonia and evaluate its significance at that time in world history"

just give the conditions haber used -
1) temperature used by him
2) pressure used by him
3) ratio of nitrogen:hydrogen (1:3)
i don't remember exactly if haber used the Fe3O4 catalyst??? well check it out and if he did add that!!!!

significance :
at that time ie during world war 1 , germany needed ammonia to prepare explosives and so ammonia prepared by haber proved useful!!!
u can go into detail .....just check some sites on haber....i think hsc online has an answer for this!!!! so does thickett!!!!! have a look.....

[kini mini]

Originally posted by elizabethy

significance :
at that time ie during world war 1 , germany needed ammonia to prepare explosives and so ammonia prepared by haber proved useful!!!
u can go into detail .....just check some sites on haber....i think hsc online has an answer for this!!!! so does thickett!!!!! have a look.....

I don't see how this dot-point could be understood to require a chemical explanation of the Haber process. It seems to be asking about its effect of society more than anything else.

To add to what elizabethy said, before the synthesis of ammonia and nitrates these had to be mined. Germany got all its nitrates from South American mines, but the British Royal Navy blockaded Germany. Ammonia and nitrates were essential in the manufacture of munitions such as explosives and thus crucial to the war effort. Without the Haber process, Germany would have run out of munitions and been forced to negotiate or surrender much earlier.

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

jus to clear things up a bit..


the search for an industrial process for ammonia synthesis began way before WW1... (true!)

1. the problem was, there was a huge population boom in te 1900s. More food, more agriculture, hence more fertilisers were needed. Current fertilisers were being imported from sth america (eg guano) but they were needing a way to manufacture the stuf. So they worked and worked till they developed the haber process.

2. its significance is that nitrates are also used for explosives. With the development of the haber process and its improvements and refinements in subsequent years, the germans could continue in the war effort. (they reckon w/o the haber process, germany would have pulled out of the war like 4 years sooner)

interestingly enuf.. when the war wasn't going so well, germany diverted all the synthesised ammonia from crop production to manufacturing explosives; the wheat crop failed and something like half the population (??) had to face starvation..

[Frigid]

My class did it on account of the social and contextual conditions, not the experiment conditions... so straight from my notes...

"2.3.1 � Gather and process information from secondary sources to describe the conditions under which Haber developed the industrial synthesis of ammonia and evaluate its significance at that time in world history.

Fritz Haber was born in 1868 in Prussia, the son of a prosperous German chemical merchant. After his education, Haber left his father�s business to study organic chemistry at the University of Jena. At the age of 25, Haber began teaching and researching physical chemistry and quickly gained recognition for his research into electrochemistry and thermodynamics.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, world-wide demand for nitrogen-based fertilisers was exceeding supply. The largest source for fertiliser production was the huge guano (sea bird droppings) deposits on the coast of Chile. Many scientists desired to solve the problem on this fast disappearing supply of ammonia and nitrogenous compounds.

Haber invented his process for the large-scale production of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gas, both of which are abundant and inexpensive. By using a moderate temperature (~500�C), high pressure (~30MPa), an iron catalyst, he, together with Carl Bosch, a chemical engineer, was able to force the relatively unreactive gases to combine into ammonia. By this breakthrough many further products, such as fertilisers and explosives could be made.

During the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Haber was placed in charge of a research centre for chemistry and physics, and placed his services before the German government. For the duration of the war, Haber, a loyalist to his country, produced many breakthroughs that helped sustain Germany.

The significance of the Haber process is enormous, because gave Germany, though it was landlocked, the essential raw materials for the production of fertilisers, for the growing of crops, and of nitric acid, the basis of explosives. In this way, Haber allowed Germany to be independent of Chile and other countries, and shouldered the German military machine with his achievements for four years. Without him, Germany would never have a chance to win the war."

[babydoll_]

thanks!! =)