charley1957
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NH3 and H2O2 products
Yesterday I was scrolling through the forum here and I saw something about a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. It got me to wondering what
the products of this mixture would be, and how I could balance that equation. I've been on a balancing kick lately, just for the practice. So not
knowing what the products were, I punched it into an online balancing tool over at webqc.org. It came back with three different possible products,
all of which balanced. I did the balancing by hand. But it got me to thinking, which of these really is the product of these two reactants, and how
would you know? Maybe they're all just products of the balancing tool, and not really products at all.
But it's a simple set of reactants, so I picked the simplest of the products, just in my mind. Further research found that even for the most simple
products, there are a number of steps these reactions go through before they resolve out to some end product, sometimes even a dozen or more. Perhaps
this is a subject better left to those with advanced degrees in chemistry.
I can write out all the different balanced equations if anyone is interested. I guess my question ends up being, given a choice of different products
from the same two reactants, and all the equations balance out, how WOULD you know which is the real product, if there indeed is a real product? This
is not homework, I'm just an old guy with time to think.
You can’t claim you drank all day if you didn’t start early in the morning.
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Bedlasky
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Ammonia and hydrogen peroxide don't react each other.
This mixture is used for dissolving molybdenum and tungsten.
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EthidiumBromide
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Quote: Originally posted by charley1957  | I guess my question ends up being, given a choice of different products from the same two reactants, and all the equations balance out, how WOULD you
know which is the real product, if there indeed is a real product? This is not homework, I'm just an old guy with time to think.
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Answers to such questions can't be given by simply looking at an equation for a reaction (or else chemistry would be a far easier science).
Questions such as whether some substances can react, at what conditions (temperature, pressure, concentration, pH), at what rate do the products form,
formation of which product is more likely at given conditions (for reactions that can proceed in multple ways, for instance) are answered by chemical
thermodynamics.
It's not a matter of being able to balance out equations, but looking at the thermodynamics and kinetics of a reaction and doing a lot of both
theoretical and experimental work to know whether such reaction is possible or not, and if so, at what conditions and at what rate it can occur.
That's the gist of it, I'm obviously glossing over many important details. 
[Edited on 13-12-2020 by EthidiumBromide]
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charley1957
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Well you certainly answered my question in a nutshell. Thanks for the insight. I suspected that it was much more complicated than just balancing
equations after I saw that many-multi-step list of all the individual reactions that occur on the way to a final product as I described earlier. I
only had a couple of semesters of chemistry in college but it sure piqued my interest. Unfortunately a chemistry major was not offered at my
university at that time. Maybe when I retire in a few years I can find that degree in chemistry. Thanks again!
You can’t claim you drank all day if you didn’t start early in the morning.
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mackolol
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If you added Fe2+ salt to this mixture, you would've probably produced some n2o. Good way to make some laughing gas quickly. Although, you would have
to pass the gas mixture through some dilute acid, because obviously, you wouldn't want to inhale ammonia. Take in mind that this procedure probably
hasn't been tried, so you would have to optimise it.
[Edited on 13-12-2020 by mackolol]
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