The Ammonia Fountain

Establishing a very unique chemistry for vapors, wherein nothing is discussed other than the mixing of vapors, at most in conjunction with permanent elastic fluids. I believe without question that something good would come from this. Admittedly, the vapors must be employed not merely at the temperature at which they first readily form, but also at the very highest heat, and in general one would need to think as well about sundry variations of vapors. 

If we take it as a given that there is no such thing as emptiness, neither within the world nor outside it how can it be that water forces its way into a bottle and then rises up inside the bottle when one sucks it out and then holds it inverted in water  

This is not a result of emptiness the phenomenon is due instead to the fact that in the course of sucking on the bottle, whereby the air cannot escape due to the nonexistence of emptiness, this sucking action sets the air in the bottle in continuous, powerful motion. The continuous powerful motions produce a warmth and a heat, and the heat produces an expansion in the air, and when the air in the bottle expands it demands more space. Therefore a portion of it necessarily comes out, and that which the bottle can hold remains therein. 

Then when the cold of the water reaches it, it becomes more dense, and draws itself together and occupies less space. Since emptiness cannot exist, water forces its way into the bottle as a result of contact with the cold body, and to the same extent that the air expanded. Do you not see that you would achieve the same effect if you did not suck, but rather the opposite, namely that you blew into the bottle You must blow into it uninterruptedly and continuously until the motion from blowing has caused the air in the bottle to become warm, at which point you turn the bottle upside down 

Your arguments serve only the advocates of the vacuum, because if sucking causes air to expand, as you have explained, and it comes out of the bottle, which can no longer contain it, where should it go if there is not emptiness anywhere in the world Unless one were to insist that all of a sudden somewhere in the world a corresponding volume of air were to be reduced and draw itself together, and that the contraction an expansion balanced out. But with respect to your words that is established / have tried it, and I have also carried out the opposite process. And in fact the air came gurgling out of the bottle, while no water whatsoever entered it, and the number of bottles that burst for me in the process would suffice for the water of the Amudarja. 

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FIGURE 12.7 The ammonia fountain display. (Left) The inverted round-bottomed flask is filled with ammonia gas. (Right) When a small amount of water is introduced into the flask by squeezing the polyethylene bottle, most of the ammonia gas dissolves in the water, creating a partial vacuum. The pressure from the atmosphere forces the liquids from the two Erlenmeyer flasks into the round-bottomed flask. The mixing of the two liquids initiates a chemical reaction, accompanied by the emission of blue light. 

We have already seen an impressive example for such an acid-base reaction, namely the ammonia fountain (Experiment 4.12). The formation of an alkaline (basic) milieu in the flask according to... 

The reason ammonia is so soluble in water is that some of it reacts with the water. The high solubility can be shown by the fountain flask experiment (Figure 11.18, p. 180). As the first drop of water reaches the top of the tube all the ammonia gas in the flask dissolves, creating a much reduced pressure. Water then rushes up the tube to fill the space once occupied by the dissolved gas. This creates the fountain. 

Fig-5 Ammonia fountain. NH, gas dissolves so readily in water that just a few drops are enough to decrease the pressure in the flask so drastically that water is drawn upward into it in a strong jet. 

Experiment 4.12 Ammonia fountain NH3 gas dissolves so readily in water that just a few drops are enough to decrease the pressure in the flask filled with gas so drastically that more water is drawn upward into it in a strong jet. If a few drops of the acid-base indicator phenolphthalein are added to the water, the solution turns pink just as soon as it enters the flask (more in Chap. 7). 

What was of higher interest in the Kampourakis and Tsaparlis study (2003) was the fact that the chosen practical activity was very involved. The fountain experiment is indeed a spectacular and impressive one, but this feature may be the cause of the failure of most students to pay attention to the stimuli relevant to the problem. Indeed, one could argue that the relevant to the problem stimuli were not the dominant stimuli of the experiment. In particular, the generation of ammonia in the flask was also producing working memory space overload (see below). 

Silvery, shiny, and hard. Unique metal, gives off an odor as it forms volatile 0s04 on the surface (oxidation states 81). Osmium is the densest element (22.6 g cm3 record ). Was replaced in filaments (Osram) by the cheaper tungsten. Used in platinum alloys and as a catalyst. Haber s first catalyst in ammonia synthesis was osmium, which fortunately could be replaced by doped iron. The addition of as little as 1 to 2 % of this expensive metal increases the strength of steel (e.g. fountain-pen tips, early gramophone needles, syringe needles). 

FIG. 13-4. The hydrogen chloride fountain the same experiment can be carried out with ammonia instead of hydrogen chloride. 

Today, about half of all the nitrogen consumed by all the world s crops each year comes not from natural sources such as bacteria in the soil, but from ammonia factories employing the Haber-Bosch process. It has become an essential pillar of life on earth, a fountain that feeds its growing population. According to the most careful estimates, some two billion people who live on our planet today, mainly in Asia, could not survive in the absence of Fritz Haber s invention. 

Very soluble gases (such as ammonia and hydrogen chloride) can be made to perform the fountain experiment . Figure 11.9 shows the experiment carried out with HCl(g). A flask is fitted with a cork and tube and filled with dry hydrogen chloride. Without delay, the flask is lowered into a deep bucket of water. So much gas dissolves in the water rising up the tube that a partial vacuum is created in the flask. This draws... 

The accuracy can be further increased by using a longer microwave zone, slower molecules, or both. At some point, however, beam deflection due to Earth s gravitational pull becomes an issue. A way to deal with it is to use a vertical setup, for example, a molecular fountain. Such a fountain is currently being set up at the Laser Centre Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, in collaboration with the Fritz-Haber-lnstitut. In this fountain, ammonia molecules are decelerated, cooled, and subsequently... 

Eye contact The eyes must be flooded immediately with copious quantities of clean water. Speed is essential. In isolated areas, water in a squeeze bottle, which can be carried in the pocket, is helpful for emergency irrigation purposes. Eye fountains should be used, but if they are not available, water may be poured over the eyes. In any case, the eyelids must be held open and irrigation must continue for at least 30 minutes. The patient must receive prompt attention from a physician, preferably an ophthalmologist. Persons subject to ammonia exposure should not wear contact lenses. 

Suppose we don t want to warm stream 5 to 15°C. Perhaps the temperature of the recycle stream 6 must be 0°C to minimize melting ice in the separator. Or perhaps we wish to feed the output stream 7 to a drinking fountain - it would be nice to have an ice-cold drink. What are the design options Given an anunonia flow rate of 18 kg/min, we need to add less energy to the melter. As you will learn in physical chemistry, the heat of vaporization decreases as the pressure increases. Hence you could increase the pressure in stream 12 to lower the heat of vaporization by a factor of 15/18. Alternatively, we could flow ammonia at 15 kg/min and increase the heat of vaporization of anunonia in the slusher by 18/15. 

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