Nitric acid is often manufactured from the atmospheric gases nitrogen and oxygen, plus hydrogen prepared by reforming of natural gas, in a two-step process. in the first step, nitrogen and hydrogen react to form ammonia: n2(g) + 3h2(g) > 2nh3(g) in the second step, ammonia and oxygen react to form nitric acid and water: nh3(g) + 2o2(g) > hno3(g) + h2o(g) write the net chemical equation for the production of nitric acid from nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. be sure your equation is balanced.

The net chemical equation is given below.

Explanation:

To determine the net chemical equation, we will look into the intermediate steps:

Step 1: Formation of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen gas.

       ......(1)

Step 2: Formation of nitric acid from ammonia and oxygen gas.

     .....(2)

The net chemical equation for the formation of nitric acid from hydrogen gas, nitrogen gas and oxygen gas follows by adding both the equations, we get:

By Stoichiometry of the reaction:

1 mole of hydrogen gas reacts with 2 moles of oxygen gas and 3 moles of hydrogen gas to produce 1 mole of nitric acid, 1 mole of water and 1 mole of ammonia.

Hence, the net chemical equation is given below.