Modern Industry, bereft of all hindering technological barriers, and open to further developments in the area of economical assurance. Having once been in the cobwebbed corner of the closet, industry has now flourished into being something of the imagination. Chemically speaking, Equilibrium is perhaps one of the most important branches protruding from the hulking tree of industrial facilitation.
The Haber Process, Ammonia synthesis at its best, is only a mere first of many beneficial outcomes of Chemical Equilibrium. Following Le Chatelier’s Principle of Equilibrium, the Haber Process operates on the nitrogen fixation reaction of naturally occurring Nitrogen and Hydrogen gases. This particular process is of utmost importance because of the difficulty of Ammonia gas production, which of course is responsible for sustaining much of human agriculture. The world is constantly reminded by Le Chatelier’s Principle, recalling the vital theory of Equilibrium: In order to maximize the amount of product in the reaction mixture, it should be carried out at low temperature and high pressure. Still working accordingly to the aforementioned theory, Fritz Haber was faced with quite an irksome dilemma: Since Ammonia gas production had such a negligible yield, it was only to be noted that the reaction favoured low temperatures and high pressures. But because of the ever-obvious fact that when dealing with low temperatures, the speed of the reaction follows suit, and drops to an immeasurable extent, and this could never be allowed in fast paced industry. Therefore fully aware of industrial specifications, Haber was capable of employing a catalyst in order to speed up the rather slow process, and he was fully successful in manipulating pressures and temperatures in accordance with the required prerequisites. (Haber Process. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.)
