Fertilisers Flashcards

All 6 cards in this deck

Which three elements are found in the compounds present in NPK fertilisers, to promote plant growth?

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Which salt is formed when ammonia reacts with nitric acid?

Ammonium nitrate, used as a fertiliser.

What is the balanced equation for the reaction of ammonia with nitric acid?

$NH_3 + HNO_3 \rightarrow NH_4NO_3$

What are the steps in the laboratory preparation of ammonium sulfate?

e.g. from ammonia solution and dilute sulfuric acid

1. Titrate to find the volume of acid that exactly neutralises the ammonia solution (using an indicator).
2. Repeat with the same volumes but no indicator.
3. Evaporate/crystallise the solution to get ammonium sulfate crystals.

How does industrial production of ammonium sulfate differ from the laboratory preparation?

Industrially it is made on a much larger scale and needs several stages to make the ammonia and sulfuric acid from raw materials first.

True or false? Industrial production of ammonium sulfate is just the laboratory method scaled up in one step.

False. Industry must first produce ammonia (Haber process) and sulfuric acid from raw materials, so several stages are needed.