Chemistry is a fundamental subject of core science and is a field that attracts thousands of students, researchers, and scholars to pursue it. It is not just restricted to being a branch of science that deals with chemical compounds and their respective compositions, it is much more.
It helps us to understand how substances react with one another to produce new ones and how a compound can dissociate to give rise to subsequent products. When we study a reaction, we look for the products formed. For example, in case of the industrial production of ammonia, we find out after complete reaction how many molecules of ammonia are produced?
It can be easily said that chemistry gives us a thorough understanding of how the components of nature interact with each other. It undoubtedly comprises of some of the most complex and challenging topics under its hood. In fact, its elaborate nature makes it a fascinating subject matter for many.
Starting from the chemical makeup of the simplest of products we use on a daily basis, for instance, water, is dictated by chemistry. Every chemical reaction has a purpose and to study chemistry, knowing the purpose is important. During my time in school, the teachers made sure they take this approach and that has acted as a catalyst in my journey of learning chemistry.
Chemistry and its industrial applications
The significance of chemistry can be best described by its real-time applications. An industry as colossal as the chemical industry is practically established based on the concepts of this subject. This alone proves the monumental role the study of chemistry plays. Here are some of the major examples of its industrial applications-
- Ostwald’s Method–
Ostwald’s method is the name of the industrial process via which Nitric acid, a mineral acid, is produced commercially. The reagents opted for are ammonia gas, oxygen, and water. Being a strong oxidizing agent, nitric acid can oxide both metals and nonmetals.
It is produced commercially to manufacture explosives like T.N.T, fertilizers and so on. The industrial process consists of three major steps namely, oxidation, absorption of nitrous oxide, and finally, the concentration of nitric acid.
- Haber process–
Haber process is the industrial method for the commercial production of ammonia. It is prepared from nitrogen obtained from the air and hydrogen derived from natural gas. The reaction facilitating the production of ammonia is a highly exothermic process and is reversible in nature.
The main purpose of analyzing the Haber process is to detect after complete reaction how many molecules of ammonia are produced? It is found out that when nitrogen and hydrogen obtained from natural gas react under the chemical conditions as permitted by the Haber process, 2 molecules of ammonia is produced post the completion of each reaction.
Apart from the field of chemical industry, the role of chemistry and its concepts extends over several other domains. This includes drug designing, core medicine, agriculture, food technology, and the list is endless. Acing a subject like this requires more than just collecting resources and memorizing them. Students must be persuaded to observe and analyze and that is how they will truly learn a subject as vast as this.