Sciencemadness Discussion Board

NH3 and H2O2 products

charley1957 - 12-12-2020 at 09:30

Yesterday I was scrolling through the forum here and I saw something about a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. It got me to wondering what the products of this mixture would be, and how I could balance that equation. I've been on a balancing kick lately, just for the practice. So not knowing what the products were, I punched it into an online balancing tool over at webqc.org. It came back with three different possible products, all of which balanced. I did the balancing by hand. But it got me to thinking, which of these really is the product of these two reactants, and how would you know? Maybe they're all just products of the balancing tool, and not really products at all.

But it's a simple set of reactants, so I picked the simplest of the products, just in my mind. Further research found that even for the most simple products, there are a number of steps these reactions go through before they resolve out to some end product, sometimes even a dozen or more. Perhaps this is a subject better left to those with advanced degrees in chemistry.

I can write out all the different balanced equations if anyone is interested. I guess my question ends up being, given a choice of different products from the same two reactants, and all the equations balance out, how WOULD you know which is the real product, if there indeed is a real product? This is not homework, I'm just an old guy with time to think.

Bedlasky - 12-12-2020 at 14:27

Ammonia and hydrogen peroxide don't react each other.
Quote: Originally posted by charley1957  
Yesterday I was scrolling through the forum here and I saw something about a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide.


This mixture is used for dissolving molybdenum and tungsten.

EthidiumBromide - 12-12-2020 at 16:26

Quote: Originally posted by charley1957  
I guess my question ends up being, given a choice of different products from the same two reactants, and all the equations balance out, how WOULD you know which is the real product, if there indeed is a real product? This is not homework, I'm just an old guy with time to think.

Answers to such questions can't be given by simply looking at an equation for a reaction (or else chemistry would be a far easier science).

Questions such as whether some substances can react, at what conditions (temperature, pressure, concentration, pH), at what rate do the products form, formation of which product is more likely at given conditions (for reactions that can proceed in multple ways, for instance) are answered by chemical thermodynamics.
It's not a matter of being able to balance out equations, but looking at the thermodynamics and kinetics of a reaction and doing a lot of both theoretical and experimental work to know whether such reaction is possible or not, and if so, at what conditions and at what rate it can occur.

That's the gist of it, I'm obviously glossing over many important details. :)

[Edited on 13-12-2020 by EthidiumBromide]

charley1957 - 12-12-2020 at 19:06

Well you certainly answered my question in a nutshell. Thanks for the insight. I suspected that it was much more complicated than just balancing equations after I saw that many-multi-step list of all the individual reactions that occur on the way to a final product as I described earlier. I only had a couple of semesters of chemistry in college but it sure piqued my interest. Unfortunately a chemistry major was not offered at my university at that time. Maybe when I retire in a few years I can find that degree in chemistry. Thanks again!

mackolol - 13-12-2020 at 10:47

If you added Fe2+ salt to this mixture, you would've probably produced some n2o. Good way to make some laughing gas quickly. Although, you would have to pass the gas mixture through some dilute acid, because obviously, you wouldn't want to inhale ammonia. Take in mind that this procedure probably hasn't been tried, so you would have to optimise it.

[Edited on 13-12-2020 by mackolol]