Ammonia was one of the Natural sciences good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones Date Process Result December 9, 2005 Good article nominee Listed April 24, 2006 Featured article candidate Not promoted June 22, 2006 Featured article candidate Not promoted July 26, 2007 Featured article candidate Not promoted August 8, 2009 Good article reassessment Delisted Current status: Delisted good article

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The Liquid section had a sentence that stated the liquid could be carried around a lab without refrigeration or a pressure vessel. This seems very unlikely considering that even with its high enthalpy of vaporization every source I can find says that liquid anhydrous ammonia vaporizes when exposed to air. I changed the section to reflect this - did it mean aqueous ammonia? Reconrabbit 20:16, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Liquid ammonia, like every liquid, requires energy to evaporate. This energy can come from the surrounding environment, like from air, water, a flame, an electric heating element, etc., or from the liquid itself, such as when the pressure of compressed, liquid ammonia is reduced, it will evaporate and cool down, because its heat is used to evaporate itself. So, yes, liquid ammonia will evaporate if it's in an environment that's warmer than its boiling point of -33 C (at 1 atm, I guess), including air. But the rate of evaporation depends on the rate of heat transfer. In a well insulated dewar this will be slow, but if you mix it well with lots of air by spraying it into air, it will be fast. Intermediately, e.g. in a test tube it will evaporate, but slow enough to carry it around in a lab. The vapors are pungent and even lethal in sufficient amount, so don't inhale them too much. Here's a video where nilered is handling liquid ammonia he created: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHokrNS1ask&t=535s

In a pressurized container liquid ammonia may be at ambient temperature at the corresponding vapor presssure, e.g. 1003 kPa (10.03 bar) at 25 C (Ammonia (data page)#Vapor–liquid equilibrium data). Opening a valve, especially below the liquid surface, will eject liquid ammonia due to its pressure. Outside the container the vapor pressure of ammonia (10 bar) is now above ambient pressure (~1 bar), so it flash evaporates instantly. As mentioned, this evaporation requires energy, which comes from the ammonia itself now. It cools down instantly, cooling down, and if the ammonia wasn't hot enough (have enough energy) in the container, it will cool down to its boiling point corresponding to the ambient pressure (-33 C) where some ammonia will remain liquid till it absorbs the remaining energy needed for full evaporation from the environment. If you're not in a position to shut the valve quickly, run (upwind)!

I guess the sources you found were about this flash evaporation, where all or most of liquefied, pressurized ammonia evaporates instantly. This is mostly due to exposure to lower pressure rather than to exposure to air.Darsie42 (talk) 13:35, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We use liquid ammonia with no external cooling. In fact, in our teach lab, I insisted on not using coolants, which condense water that can kill sodium-ammonia. Arthur Birch's group (Birch reduction) measured out ammonia with big graduated cylinders. It's a little weird but the heat of evaporation is so high that these operations work fine. We just dont remove the thick crust of frost that collects on the containers.--Smokefoot (talk) 14:30, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's interesting to hear! If I've mischaracterized liquid ammonia in the article based on the sources then please correct me; I have never once seen liquid ammonia handled at my institution outside of the aqueous form. Reconrabbit 15:15, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What is this 2409:4080:D0C:C6C7:0:0:25C8:6F09 (talk) 18:21, 17 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ammonia is an “inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3”. You’ll find this stuff in fertilizer. Thanks, Kurnahusa (talk) 19:26, 17 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Using ammonia as a fuel for internal combustion engines emits nitrogen and water vapour, water vapour being the most potent greenhouse gas alongside sulfur hexafluoride. 105.232.128.78 (talk) 11:28, 18 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The water vapour will condense into water so is very short lasting PeriodicEditor (talk) 04:53, 8 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The claim "The maximum concentration of ammonia in water (a saturated solution) has a specific gravity of 0.880 and is often known as '.880 ammonia'" conflicts with the immediately-following table showing a range of densities for the saturated solution at different temperatures that are all well below 880kg/m3.

The claim of 0.880 is cited to reference 32: Hawkins, Nehemiah (1909). Hawkins' Mechanical Dictionary: A Cyclopedia of Words, Terms, Phrases and Data Used in the Mechanic Arts, Trades and Sciences. T. Audel. p. 15.

The reference actually says "the strongest commercial quality having a specific gravity of 0.880, being known as .880 ammonia". That is, the specific gravity of 0.880 is not for a saturated solution but just for the most concentrated commercial product in 1909. Tslumley (talk) 05:51, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 August 2025 and 5 December 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Neilcutting23 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: PhDian.

— Assignment last updated by PhDian (talk) 23:49, 28 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]