Question

in 1912, chemist fritz haber developed a process that combined nitrogen from the air with hydrogen at high temperatures and pressures to make ammonia. specifically, the process involved combining one molecule of nitrogen gas (n2) with three molecules of hydrogen gas (h2) to get two molecules of ammonia (nh3). if you write this process in a symbol format, it looks like this:n2 3h2 → 2nh3explain whether this is a chemical or physical change, and why. does it involve elements, compounds, mixtures, or pure substances? also describe how many atoms are involved before and after. what do you notice about the number of atoms?

Answer 1

The Fritz Haber-developed process combines nitrogen and hydrogen to create ammonia in a chemical change involving pure substances. The number of atoms remains constant before and after the reaction, demonstrating the Law of Conservation of Mass.

Step-by-step explanation:

In 1912, the chemist Fritz Haber developed a process that converted nitrogen gas (N₂) and hydrogen gas (H₂) into ammonia (NH₃). The transformation represented by the equation N₂ + 3H₂ → 2NH₃ is a chemical change because it involves the formation of a new substance with different properties than the original substances.

Before the reaction, there are a total of four nitrogen atoms and six hydrogen atoms, which stay the same after the reaction, resulting in four nitrogen atoms and six hydrogen atoms contained in two ammonia molecules. This observation highlights the Law of Conservation of Mass, where the number of atoms in a closed system remains constant, despite the changes in the substances' form.

These reactants and products are all pure substances in their respective states during the Haber process. Nitrogen and hydrogen gases are elements, while ammonia is a compound composed of these elements. There are no mixtures involved in the initial reactants or the final products.

Answer 2

Explain whether this is a chemical or physical change, and why. does it involve elements, compounds, mixtures, or pure substances?

If the process involves a chemical reaction then surely it is a chemical change where new bonds are being formed from the collision of the reactants.

Describe how many atoms are involved before and after. what do you notice about the number of atoms?

From the balanced chemical reaction, we see that we need 1 mol of N2 gas and 3 mol of H2 in order to form 2 mol of NH3.