The Most Impossible Reaction in Chemistry
Animated Chemistry
9,830 views
Nitrogen makes up 78% of every breath you take. It is also one of the most stubborn molecules in the atmosphere.
Two atoms locked together by a triple bond so strong that breaking it takes 941 kilojoules per mole. Every protein in your body needs it. Every strand of your DNA needs it. And for almost all of human history, it was floating right above every farm on Earth and completely out of reach.
In 1898, William Crookes warned the world that humanity was heading for mass starvation. Eleven years later, Fritz Haber forced the impossible reaction to happen on a tabletop. Carl Bosch then scaled it to feed nations.
Today, roughly half of the nitrogen atoms in your body were made in a factory.
But the same chemistry that fed billions had a second life that almost never makes it into the textbook. And it cost one family everything.
This is the story of how chemistry cracked the most stable molecule in the air, and why that victory is still unresolved.
đź“š Topics covered:
Why nitrogen gas is so unreactive
The triple bond and 941 kJ/mol
William Crookes and the 1898 wheat warning
The guano and Chilean nitrate crisis
Fritz Haber's 1909 ammonia breakthrough
Chemical equilibrium and Le Chatelier's principle
Carl Bosch and the first industrial plant at Oppau
The Haber-Bosch process and the global food supply
Ammonia, nitric acid, and World War I
The environmental cost we still pay today
🎨 All animations made by Manim
ANIMATION AND COPYRIGHT
All 2D and 3D animations in this video were designed and built from scratch by the Animated Chemistry team. (c) Animated Chemistry. All rights reserved. Reuse, re-upload, or redistribution without written permission is not allowed.
đź”” Subscribe for deep dives into chemistry, and the hidden structure of reality.
#Chemistry #HaberBosch #NitrogenFixation #FritzHaber #HistoryOfScience #Science #ChemicalReaction #Chemist #Ammonia #AnimatedChemistry
5 Comments
As far as science goes, the video is good. As far as presentation, it is painful to listen to. The graphics are good though. The writing is horribly repetitive. And this is only the second video from them I've seen.
The Most Impossible Reaction in Chemistry
Animated Chemistry
9,830 views
Nitrogen makes up 78% of every breath you take. It is also one of the most stubborn molecules in the atmosphere.
Two atoms locked together by a triple bond so strong that breaking it takes 941 kilojoules per mole. Every protein in your body needs it. Every strand of your DNA needs it. And for almost all of human history, it was floating right above every farm on Earth and completely out of reach.
In 1898, William Crookes warned the world that humanity was heading for mass starvation. Eleven years later, Fritz Haber forced the impossible reaction to happen on a tabletop. Carl Bosch then scaled it to feed nations.
Today, roughly half of the nitrogen atoms in your body were made in a factory.
But the same chemistry that fed billions had a second life that almost never makes it into the textbook. And it cost one family everything.
This is the story of how chemistry cracked the most stable molecule in the air, and why that victory is still unresolved.
đź“š Topics covered:
Why nitrogen gas is so unreactive
The triple bond and 941 kJ/mol
William Crookes and the 1898 wheat warning
The guano and Chilean nitrate crisis
Fritz Haber's 1909 ammonia breakthrough
Chemical equilibrium and Le Chatelier's principle
Carl Bosch and the first industrial plant at Oppau
The Haber-Bosch process and the global food supply
Ammonia, nitric acid, and World War I
The environmental cost we still pay today
🎨 All animations made by Manim
ANIMATION AND COPYRIGHT
All 2D and 3D animations in this video were designed and built from scratch by the Animated Chemistry team. (c) Animated Chemistry. All rights reserved. Reuse, re-upload, or redistribution without written permission is not allowed.
đź”” Subscribe for deep dives into chemistry, and the hidden structure of reality.
#Chemistry #HaberBosch #NitrogenFixation #FritzHaber #HistoryOfScience #Science #ChemicalReaction #Chemist #Ammonia #AnimatedChemistry