Topic Haber Process and compromise Level GCSE (or any other course for students aged 11-16) conditions Outcomes To understand the effects of temperature, catalysts and pressure on the rate, yield and economics of ammonia production Information for This activity gets students to think deeply about compromise conditions. They need to think about the teachers balance between rate, yield and cost. The Haber Process: when life’s just one big compromise! ⇌ 3H2 + N2 2NH3 H -92 kj/mol Factory owner Scientist – why is the factory owner wrong?! “Let’s get this ammonia made quickly. I want the highest temperature we can get so that the rate of reaction is fast! There is no time to waste!” “Let’s use an iron catalyst because I want to increase the yield of ammonia.” “Using a pressure of 200 atmospheres is going to bankrupt me. These gases don’t compress themselves you know and I am going to need extremely strong and expensive pipes to withstand the pressure. Let’s use a pressure of 100 atmospheres.” “Let’s get hydrogen from H2O as water is free and so this will cost me nothing!”
Factory owner Scientist – why is the factory owner wrong?! “Let’s get this ammonia made quickly. I want the highest temperature we can get so that the rate of reaction is fast! There is no time to waste!” “Let’s use an iron catalyst because I want to increase the yield of ammonia.” “Using a pressure of 200 atmospheres is going to bankrupt me. These gases don’t compress themselves you know and I am going to need extremely strong and expensive pipes to withstand the pressure. Let’s use a pressure of 100 atmospheres.” “Let’s get hydrogen from H2O as water is free and so this will cost me nothing!” Topic Haber Process and compromise conditions Level GCSE (or any other course for students aged 11-16) Outcomes To understand the effects of temperature, catalysts and pressure on the rate, yield and economics of ammonia production Information for teachers This activity gets students to think deeply about compromise conditions. They need to think about the balance between rate, yield and cost. The Haber Process: when life’s just one big compromise! 3H2 + N2 ⇌ 2NH3 H -92 kj/mol
Haber-process-and-compromise-conditions.docx