Ammonia(NH3) Properties (25 Facts You Should Know)

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Ammonia is one of the nitrogenous waste of aquatic organisms which is used as a good solvent. Let us discuss some interesting facts about ammonia in this article.

Ammonia, NH3 is one kind of an inorganic compound whose shape is trigonal pyramid. Ammonia is soluble in chloroform either ethanol methanol and water. The preparation of ammonia is by heating ammonium chloride with a strong base like calcium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide. The bond angle of ammonia is 106.80.

The commercial method for the production of ammonia is Haber process. Let us discuss some facts like oxidation State, melting point, molar mass,colour of ammonia in the following sections.

Ammonia IUPAC name

The IUPAC name of ammonia is hydrogen nitride. It can be also called as Azane.

Ammonia chemical formula

The chemical formula of ammonia is NH3 . Here 3 hydrogen atoms are attached to nitrogen atom.

Ammonia CAS number

The CAS number of ammonia is 7664-41-7.

Ammonia chemspider ID

The chemspider ID of ammonia is 217.

Ammonia chemical classification

Ammonia is an inorganic compound made up of Nitrogen and hydrogen which is one of the simplest pinctogen hydride. It is also a stable binary hydride which is lighter than air.

ammonia properties
Structure of Ammonia

Ammonia molar mass

The molar mass of ammonia is 17.031 gram/mol.

Ammonia colour

Ammonia is found to be a colourless gas.

Ammonia viscosity

The viscosity of ammonia is found to be 10.07 pa.s at 250 Cand 0.276 at -400C.

Ammonia molar density

The molar density of ammonia is 0.769 kg/m3 at standard temperature and pressure. At 150 C its molar density is found to be point 0.73 kg/m3

Ammonia melting point

The melting point of ammonia is – 77.70C or – 10.910 F. At triple point the melting point of ammonia is 195.4 Kelvin.

Ammonia boiling point

The boiling point of ammonia is – 3 3.340C or -28.010 Fahrenheit.

Ammonia state at the room temperature

Ammonia exist as a gas which is colourless at room temperature.

Ammonia ionic or covalent bond

All the bonds in ammonia is covalent bond. In ammonia 3 hydrogen atom are attached to one nitrogen,so there are three bonds. Each bond is made by the equal sharing of electrons between both nitrogen and hydrogen atom. So there is three covalent bonds in ammonia.

Ammonia ionic or covalent radius

The covalent radius of ammonia is 1.017 A0. Ammonia is formed as the result of mutual sharing of electrons between nitrogen and hydrogen.

Ammonia electron configuration

The electronic configuration of an element is the representation of electrons in various orbitals in accordance with aufbau principle. Let us discuss about the electron configuration of ammonia.

In ammonia molecule there is one central nitrogen and three hydrogen. The electronic configuration of nitrogen is 1s2 2s2 2p3 and hydrogen is 1s1.

Ammonia oxidation State

The oxidation state of ammonia is -3. This means ammonia can accept upto 3 electrons.

Ammonia acidity or alkaline

Ammonia is found to be a weak base. Its basicity value is 4.75. It can acts as a lewis base due to the presence of lone pairs in Nitrogen. It will easily donates it’s electrons to other atoms like a base do. The pH of an aqueous solution of 1M ammonia is 11.6.

Is ammonia odourless?

Ammonia is found to be a colourless gas with a very strong pungent smell.

Is ammonia paramagnetic?

Paramagnetic substance will have unpaired electrons while diamagnetic with paired electrons. Let us deal with the paramagnetic behaviour of ammonia.

Ammonia is not a paramagnetic substance and it is diamagnetic in nature. A paramagnetic substance can be identified with the presence of unpaired electrons. In ammonia there is no unpaired electrons. All the electrons present here is paired and diamagnetic in nature.

Ammonia hydrates

One of the hydrate formed by ammonia is ammonium oxalate monohydrate, (NH4 )2 C2O4.H2O.

Ammonia crystal structure

The crystal structure of ammonia is cubic.

Ammonia polarity and conductivity

Ammonia is a polar compound with a dipole moment value of 1.42 D. It is because of the presence of one lone pair in nitrogen. The lone pair got repelled with the bond pair to cause a distortion to its tetrahedral structure. It’s metal derivatives are also electrically conductive in nature.

Ammonia reaction with acid

Salt is formed as the result of reaction between ammonia and acid. It is an example of neutralization reaction. Ammonia react with hydrogen chloride to form ammonium chloride and nitric acid to form ammonium nitrate.

NH3 + HNO3 → NH4NO3

NH3 + HCl → NH4Cl

Ammonia reaction with base

When ammonia react with sodium hydroxide there is no visible reaction were reported. Both being a base there would be no more reaction to occur.

NH3 + NaOH → No visible reaction

Ammonia reaction with oxide

Ammonia react with oxide of copper to form Nitrogen gas, copper and water.

2NH3 + 3CuO → N2 + 3H2O + 3Cu

Ammonia reaction with metal

Ammonia reacts with both alkali and alkaline earth metals to form deep blue coloured compounds. But it does not react with copper. The ammoniated electrons absorbs energy from visible region of light give this deep blue colour.

M+(x+2y)NH3 ​→[M(NH3 ​)x​]2 ++2[e(NH3 ​)y​]−(e represents electron) 

Conclusion

Ammonia is an inorganic compound which is used as a fertilizer, a household cleaner and sometimes as an anti microbial agent in food. It can be also used as refrigerant apa adjuster and fuel for a rocket engines.