Question

Many industrial reactions, like the reaction of nitrogen gas (N2) and hydrogen gas (H2) to produce ammonia for fertilizers, have a very slow reaction rate. What is one method that would speed up this reaction?

A. Use a very large reaction chamber.
B. Decrease the temperature for the reaction.
C. Increase pressure in the reaction chamber.
D. Increase the volume of the reaction chamber.

Answer 1

`"C)."`

Explanation:

Increasing the pressure of colliding gases, in this case hydrogen and nitrogen gas, will also increase the rate of reaction. This is due to Boyle's law, which states that pressure is inversely proportional to volume, if the given number of moles of both gases are kept constant.

When the volume occupied by the two gases is smaller, there is more probability of them colliding with each other, and therefore reacting together, which will increase the rate of reaction as a whole.

Therefore, `"C)."` is the correct option.