Hydrogen burning inside a nitrogen atmosphere

[gatewood]

What would happen if I had a hydrogen (H2) torch burning inside a container full of nitrogen (N2) and nitrous gas (NO2)?

Will the reaction create ammonia/ammonium? And if so, would the reaction be reversible at normal pressure?

[chenbeier]

No, water will be obtained. Nitrogen will not touched.

[gatewood]

15 hours ago, chenbeier said:

No, water will be obtained. Nitrogen will not touched.

I see. Well what about if I had a container full of H2 and N2 and applied a current in the form of an small electric arc?

[MigL]

And NO₂ is not a nitrogen atmosphere.
The  Hydrogen is still burning with the Oxygen in the NO₂.

A lot of the transition metals will burn in a nitrogen atmosphere to form nitrides.
I remember being very surprised to learn this about Titanium in 1976/7 , when I last took Chemistry ( Gr 13 ).

[chenbeier]

So far I understood a NO2/ N2 atmosphere was given. A hydrogen torch was burnt in it.

Only 2 NO2  +  4 H2 => 4 H2O + N2 takes places.

Yes some metals can react with nitrogen to built Nitrids, but hydrogen  can not form ammonia under this circumstances.

[gatewood]

 

10 hours ago, MigL said:

And NO₂ is not a nitrogen atmosphere.
The  Hydrogen is still burning with the Oxygen in the NO₂.

A lot of the transition metals will burn in a nitrogen atmosphere to form nitrides.
I remember being very surprised to learn this about Titanium in 1976/7 , when I last took Chemistry ( Gr 13 ).

I added nitrous gas, because, the hydrogen wouldn't burn in just nitrogen, would it?

If the torch won't work, would an electrical arc, in a pure nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen (H2) atmosphere?

[chenbeier]

Not sure, if so then ammonia would be synthesist in this way and Not  using high pressure devices.

Edited November 4, 2020 by chenbeier

[John Cuthber]

You might get traces of ammonia but you won't get much.

Ammonia decomposes on heating unless the pressure is very high.

 

Also calling NO2 "nitrous gas" is , at best misleading.

Either you mean nitrogen dioxide NO₂  or you mean nitrous oxide N₂O

[gatewood]

12 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

You might get traces of ammonia but you won't get much.

Ammonia decomposes on heating unless the pressure is very high.

 

Also calling NO2 "nitrous gas" is , at best misleading.

Either you mean nitrogen dioxide NO₂  or you mean nitrous oxide N₂O

Hmmm, I see. So the problems are heat and pressure, the former may be solved using cold plasma/ionization (using something like a tesla coil), and the latter using a catalytic to stabilize the resulting ammonia.

Edited November 4, 2020 by gatewood

[John Cuthber]

11 minutes ago, gatewood said:

the latter using a catalytic to stabilize the resulting ammonia.

no.

You need to look at what catalysts do.

[gatewood]

2 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

no.

You need to look at what catalysts do.

yes... bad slip, i meant "stabilizer" :S

And on that note (forgive my ignorance), what keeps the ammonia in your supermarket bottle from coming apart?

Edited November 4, 2020 by gatewood

[John Cuthber]

The difference between thermodynamic stability and kinetic stability.

In effect, it is falling apart, but too slowly for you to observe it.

 

[chenbeier]

Quote

And on that note (forgive my ignorance), what keeps the ammonia in your supermarket bottle from coming apart?

Ammonia itself is a stable compound under normal circumstances. Needs higher energy to decompose.

[SergUpstart]

The Haber process is an industrial process (invented by Fritz Haber and Karl Bosch) in which atmospheric nitrogen is "bound" by the synthesis of ammonia. A mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen is passed through a heated catalyst under high pressure[1]. At the same time, due to high pressure, the equilibrium in the N2+3H2 ⇄ 2NH3 reaction shifts towards ammonia. The firm BASF has been studied more than 8,000 catalysts of the process. Already in 1910, it was shown that the best catalyst is fused iron with additions of aluminum, potassium, and calcium oxides. This catalyst became the main one for the synthesis of ammonia for 90 years.