Haber processThis is used to manufacture ammonia. It uses nitrogen and hydrogen to do this. This is easy to remember, as the molecular formula for ammonia is NH
3, so you can see that there is nitrogen and hydrogen going in there. In the Haber process, all that happens is that you take the nitrogen and hydrogen and react them together:
Nitrogen + Hydrogen <--> Ammonia
N2 + 3H2 <-->2NH3
However, you can't just put them together and expect to get ammonia instantly, as the particles will take awhile to react, so we add some conditions to speed this up, increase the yield (how much is produced) and lower the building costs: iron catalyst, high pressure, temperature of 450 degrees and a recycling tube, where unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen are recycled.
All you need to know now is why these conditions are used:
A high pressure is used to increase the percentage yield of ammonia, but it's not too high, as that will mean that the building costs will be high and there could be the chance of an explosion.
A high temperature is used to increase the rate of reaction, but it's not too high otherwise the yield would be too low, as the reaction will start to go backwards, as it's reversible - you don't really need to know the last bit, but it's good to know anyways, as you'll need it for C5.
A catalyst is used to increase the rate of reaction without changing the yield. It doesn't change the yield, as it doesn't take part in the reaction itself.
If you're wondering why unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen is recycled, well, think to yourself, if they weren't recycled, what would happen to them? Nothing! They'd be wasted. Hence, by recycling them, the amount of waste products produced is reduced, increasing the efficiency of the reaction.
Another bit of detail that you need to know is why is ammonia important for the world food production: all of the crops that are grown in the world require nitrogen and most of this comes from artificial fertilisers. But guess what? The first step of making most of these fertilisers is the Haber process, which is why the production of ammonia is so important.
I'll do the rest of the topics in a bit