Essay On The Haber Process

659 Words2 Pages

Parker Bell
Mrs. West
Chemistry, P.2
23 February 2014
The Haber Process
The Haber process, otherwise known as the Haber-Bosch process is the reaction of Nitrogen (g) and Hydrogen (g), to produce ammonia; a huge part in the making of plant fertilizers. Ammonia is extremely difficult to produce on a large industrial scale, but the fertilizer made from it is responsible for sustaining one-third of Earth’s population. It was created by a chemist by the name of Fritz Haber, and it was then asked for another chemist named Carl Bosch to expand Haber’s machine to industrial level production. (Haber process. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://goo.gl/kYzy0Q)
This was the first process that allowed people to mass-produce plant fertilizers due to the production of ammonia. It was also one of the first processes developed to use high pressure to create chemical reactions. The Haber process made it possible for farmers to grow more food which then made it easier for agriculture to support more and more people. Many people say that this process is the cause of the Earth’s current population growth, because about half of the protein in today’s humans originated from nitrogen fixed through the Haber process. The population in 1900 was 1.6 billion, while today the population is over 7 billion people. The Haber process also has had an impact on the environment. More nitrogen has been released to the environment creating things called dead zones in the Earth’s oceans and it’s seas from agricultural runoff. Another thing is that nitrogen fertilizers have also caused natural bacteria to produce nitrous oxide which is a greenhouse gas and can cause acid rain. (Overview of the Haber-Bosch Process. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://goo.gl/kQGJsN) There are n...

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... react with. This wastes reactor space - particularly space on the surface of the catalyst. (he Haber Process for the manufacture of ammonia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equilibria/haber.html)
The Haber-Bosch process is very important in many different ways, and the way it works is very interesting and this process helps the earth and it’s environment. The ammonia created from this mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen helps out a huge percentage of the population within agriculture, because of its fertilizers and it helps provide many people with food, and also helps the earth’s population grow. There may be downsides, but without this great invention a huge chunk of the population would not have an easier way with agriculture. So, as you can see it is very important as well as a great contribution to the earth and its people.

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