Ammonia is a colourless, toxic gas and dissolve very well in water. Ammonia gas can be prepared in the laboratory by different other compounds. In industrial scale, ammonia gas is manufactured by haber method.
In this tutorial, we will learn followings of ammonia gas.
Ammonia has a very important place in chemistry because it is used in many applications in the chemical industry. Ammonia has very different characteristics in behavior such as acting as an acid, base, oxidizing agent, reducing agent and more. In this tutorial, we are going to learn about characteristics and preparation of ammonia gas in laboratories.
When NH3 gas is sent to the water, aqueous ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) solution is given. Aqueous ammonium hydroxide is a weak basic solution have pH value just over 7.
Otherwise we can say, pH of ammonium hydroxide is much lower than sodium hydroxide solution because sodium hydroxide is a strong base.
Inhaling ammonia can cause death. Never try to feel the smell of ammonia gas (not only for ammonia, do not smell any chemical compound to identify).
Ammonia gas does not have colour like nitrogen dioxide gas.
Ammonia is manufactured industrially in large scale, but it can be prepared in the laboratory also. Ammonia is toxic gas and should be careful when it is being prepared.
Ammonia is produced by haber method in the industrial scale. Hydrogen (H2) gas and nitrogen (N2) gas are used as raw materials to produce ammonia in haber method.
Learn haber method.
Ammonia can be prepared by following methods in the laboratory.
When a strong base is added to a any ammonium salt and heated the mixture, it will produce ammonia gas, a salt and water as products.
Add strong bases such as NaOH(aq), KOH(aq) to NH4Cl aqueous solution. Ammonia gas is emitted as one product.
Approximating lid of concentrated HCl bottle to the emitting ammonia gas will give NH4Cl white fog. This method can be used to identify ammonia gas.
This is a good method to prepare ammonia gas in the laboratory because both ammonium chloride and sodium hydroxide can be found easily in the laboratory.
Add water to magnesium nitride (Mg3N2) and heat the solution. It will give ammonia gas. Mg(OH)2 white precipitate is deposited as other product.
It can easily produced in the lab if you cannot find it in the laboratory. Take a magnesium metal piece and burn it in the air. As products, magnesium oxide and magnesium nitride are given. You can use this formed product to observe the ammonia production test.
Heat sodium nitrate (NaNO3), Aluminium and aqueous sodium hydroxide ( NaOH(aq)) mixture. Nitrate ion (NO3-) is reduced to NH3 and Al is oxidized to its +3 oxidation state.
In this reaction, water is also contributed as a reactant.
Aqueous ammonia solution exist as ammonium hydroxide solution. Aqueous ammonia solution can be prepared by dissolving ammonia gas in the water. Ammonia dissolve very well in water.
Questions asked by students
Ask your question and find the answer free.If you heat ammonium sulfate solution with aqueous NaOH solution, ammonia gas will be released.
Not all time. Some ammonium salts like ammonium carbonate, ammonium sulfate will give ammonia when they are heated.
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