Binding of nitrogen by base metals

Item No. P1140500 | Type: Experiments

10 Minutes
20 Minutes
grades 7-10
medium
Teachers/Professors
EUR 581.80
Content 1 piece
EUR 692.34 Incl. VAT

Principle

In this experiment the reactivity of nitrogen with various metals is investigated. Nitrogen as a typical non-metal should react with metals to the corresponding salt in the form of an exothermic reaction. However metals react only very little with nitrogen. Nitrogen reacts at room temperature only a little amount of metals (alkali metals such as lithium) to the corresponding nitrides. This reason is that (elementary) nitrogen  exists as a molecule and the nitrogen atoms are connected by three binding electron pairs. The triple bond between both nitrogen atoms is extremely unreactive. However, it is possible that nitrogen reacts with reactive metals (e.g., calcium or magnesium), which is shown in this experiment.

Learning objectives

  • reaction behaviour of nitrogen
  • preparation of metal nitrids

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(de) Versuchsbeschreibung
p1140500_de .pdf
Filesize 1.07 Mb
pdf
(en) Versuchsbeschreibung
p1140500_en .pdf
Filesize 1.03 Mb
pdf