Question from 2002 Paper (1 Viewer)

[Dreamerish*~]

13. The Haber Process for producing ammonia was developed early in the twentieth century. What was the major advantage of its development?

(A) A government sold the process to other governments.

(B) The inventor sold the process for a great deal of money.

(C) It provided a source of nitrogen for farming and industry.

(D) It provided jobs for many who were unemployed.​

By elimination, the answer is undoubtedly (C). However, the Haber Process makea ammonia, not nitrogen. Is it just me, or should that have said "ammonia"?

P.S. Great one, Serge. Answer and delete.

 

[serge]

P.S. Great one, Serge. Answer and delete.

haha, i thought you meant in the question ?
but you're right it doesnt make sense

why use up time and energy to convert nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia
so you can convert it back into nitrogen for farming?

 

[Dreamerish*~]

haha, i thought you meant in the question ?
but you're right it doesnt make sense

why use up time and energy to convert nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia
so you can convert it back into nitrogen for farming?

Exactly.

Wow, they've actually made a mistake in a HSC paper?

EDIT: Well, perhaps, but the Haber Process wasn't beneficial to only agriculture. Besides, (C) also said industry. I'd say it's a very weird question if that's what they intended to do.

 

[serge]

Exactly.

Wow, they've actually made a mistake in a HSC paper?

or maybe nitrogen by itself is hard to absorb by plants?
(who does bio?)
therefore ammonia could still provide needed nitrogen to plants

stuff it, its not like it'll be in the 2005 exam

 

[dr3amy]

haber process forms ammonia which can be oxidised to form nitrates which is used for fertilisers and explosive. i think they're really takling abotu the NITRATE not nitrogen hope that helps

 

[Dreamerish*~]

haber process forms ammonia which can be oxidised to form nitrates which is used for fertilisers and explosive. i think they're really takling abotu the NITRATE not nitrogen hope that helps

Well, there's a big difference between nitrate and nitrogen.

 

[rama_v]

Another BOS screw up

 

[dr3amy]

well i dont really know then, but i guess they're "expecting" us to know the correct ans by as you said elimination, often questions are stuffed up like that

 

[richz]

lol, i remeber this q, its sum stupid one

 

[wanton-wonton]

Here's the answer from the SUCESS ONE book:

C

Haber developed a process that fixed nitrogen in a form that could be used as fertiliser for plants and a reactant and catalyst in industry.

So there you go, the answer's D.

Just kidding, it's C.

 

[Casmira]

Don't the plants extract nitrogen from the nitrate? so when it comes down to it, ultimatley its nitrogen for the plants? and respirate or use the oxygen? (help me out here biologists )

(although why wouldnt they just get it from the atmosphere?)

 

[serge]

Don't the plants extract nitrogen from the nitrate? so when it comes down to it, ultimatley its nitrogen for the plants? and respirate or use the oxygen? (help me out here biologists )

(although why wouldnt they just get it from the atmosphere?)

I dont think plants breath
thats why they need
dissolved nitrates, me thinks

 

[Sepulchres]

If by "breathe" you mean respire, then yes plants do respire.

And I dont think this is a "screw-up" as such, I mean the fertilisser (one of the main uses of ammonia industrially) does provide plants with a _source_ of nitrogen. Knaw mean.

 

[serge]

so the point is plants dont get enough nitrogen from the atmosphere alone, right?

 

[Sepulchres]

Plants require nitrogen in the form of nitrates. They cannot get this from the atmosphere. Only plants known as "legumes" have the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates. So yea, they either need "nitrogen-fixing bacteria" which does this for them otherwise fertilissers provide this source of nitrogen.

 

[paper cup]

Plants require nitrogen in the form of nitrates. They cannot get this from the atmosphere. Only plants known as "legumes" have the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates. So yea, they either need "nitrogen-fixing bacteria" which does this for them otherwise fertilissers provide this source of nitrogen.

exactly...and it's very important in the manufacture of explosives. ah huh. modern hist/chem cross over dot point.
stop looking for loopholes dreamerish

 

[Abtari]

sepulchres is correct, in my opinion.

not all plants have the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be readily taken into their metabolism. Furthermore, even when there are plants that can do so, soil often needs to be placed with nitrate fertilisers because of the nitrogen content that gets used by plants. Hence the need for nitrogen-based fertiliser. The Haber Process merely provides a way for us to use atmospheric nitrogen to synthetically manufacture ammonia, which can readily be changed to other nitrogenous compounds, such as nitric acid, urea, ammonium sulphate........................................