Question

Nitric acid is often manufactured from the atmospheric gases nitrogen and oxygen, plus hydrogen prepared by reforming of natural gas, in a two-step process. In the first step, nitrogen and hydrogen react to form ammonia:

Answer 1

`N_2~+~3H_2~+~4O_2~->~2HNO_3~+~2H_2O`

Step-by-step explanation:

We can start with the reaction of hydrogen and nitrogen to produce ammonia, so:

`N_2~+~H_2~->~NH_3`

When we balance the reaction we will obtain:

`N_2~+~3H_2~->~2NH_3`

Now, the production of nitric acid with oxygen would be:

`NH_3~+~O_2~->~HNO_3~+~H_2O`

If we balance the reaction we will obtain:

`NH_3~+~2O_2~->~HNO_3~+~H_2O`

Now, if we put the reactions together we will obtain:

`N_2~+~3H_2~->~2NH_3`

`NH_3~+~2O_2~->~HNO_3~+~H_2O`

We can multiply the second reaction by "2":

`N_2~+~3H_2~->~2NH_3`

`2NH_3~+~4O_2~->~2HNO_3~+~2H_2O`

We have "
`2NH_3`" on both sides. In the first reaction is in the right in the second reaction is on the left. Therefore we can cancel out this compound and we will obtain:

`N_2~+~3H_2~+~4O_2~->~2HNO_3~+~2H_2O`

On this reaction, we will have 2 nitrogen atoms on both sides, 6 hydrogen atoms on both sides, and 8 oxygen atoms on both sides. So, this would be the net reaction for the production of nitric acid.