The crossroads of caravan routes of North Africa near the Ammon oasis is the historically recognized homeland of ammonia. Priests worshiping the god Amon used hydrogen nitride during their rituals, which, when heated, exuded the smell of ammonia. They were called Ammonians, apparently the name ammonia came from those times.
Modern scientists not only learned how to extract ammonia in its pure form, to find a lot of applications for it, but they also were able to simulate the design of a molecule of a substance, which in the circles of professional chemists was called "hydrogen nitride". The remarkable thing about the configuration of the ammonia molecule is that it is a regular pyramid, similar to those that witnessed the first synthesis of this substance in ancient Egypt.
Nitrogen located at the top of the pyramid under consideration forms polar bonds with hydrogen atoms. The nitrogen atom in the compound has a lone pair of electrons, it is it that is the main condition for the appearance of the ability of ammonia to form donor-acceptor and hydrogen bonds, they at one time, coupled with a significant polarity of the ammonia molecule, became the reasons for the strong interaction between them. As a result, the characteristic of ammonia differs from the properties and characteristics of substances of this type.
Everyone is familiar with the smell of ammonia, it is associated with the appearance of ammonia, which is a colorless gas, twice as lighter than air. For humans, it is toxic, has high solubility.
Ammonia also exhibits its chemical properties largely due to the lone electron pair. He is able to attach a proton to himself, as a result of which an ammonium ion is formed. In an aqueous solution, ammonia (known as ammonia) has a slightly alkaline reaction. Ammonia contributes to the production of ammonium salts by reaction with acids. The chemical properties of this compound are similar to nucleophiles or complexing agents.
On the other hand, ammonia exhibits the properties of a weak acid and is able to react with metals to form amides. Amides from alkali metals are obtained by exposure to ammonia. Salts of imides and nitrides from a number of metals are obtained by carrying out the reaction in liquid ammonia. Nitrides are obtained by heating a metal in a nitrogen atmosphere.
Metal amides exhibit hydroxide properties. And like alkalis, ammonia solutions of amide salts are good conductors of electric current.
Ammonia exhibits chemical properties when interacting with phenolphthalein, turning red, the addition of acid leads to its neutralization. Heating ammonia allows it to appear as a reducing agent. It is able to burn in oxygen, the result is water and nitrogen. When ammonia is oxidized on a catalyst from platinum, we obtain nitric oxide, a product for the industrial synthesis of nitric acid.
The reducing ability of nitrogen is used to clean metal surfaces from oxides during soldering. When ammonia is oxidized with sodium hypochlorite (a prerequisite for the presence of gelatin), hydrazine is obtained. Reaction with halogens (chlorine, iodine) produces explosives.
Thus, the industrial synthesis of ammonia is of great importance. The reaction of its preparation has the form of an interaction of nitrogen and hydrogen. It is also called the Haber process. As a result of the reaction, heat is released and the volume is reduced. Favorable conditions for the synthesis of ammonia are low temperatures and high pressures.
Take into account, receiving ammonia, the chemical properties of certain substances act as catalysts for this process. Their use allowed to accelerate the achievement of equilibrium.