The chemical reaction that feeds the world - Daniel D. Dulek
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- View full lesson: ed.ted.com/less...
How do we grow crops quickly enough to feed the Earth's billions? It's called the Haber process, which turns the nitrogen in the air into ammonia, easily converted in soil to the nitrate plants need to survive. Though it has increased food supply worldwide, the Haber process has also taken an unforeseen toll on the environment. Daniel D. Dulek delves into the chemistry and consequences.
Lesson by Daniel D. Dulek, animation by Uphill Downhill.
The Haber process included an iron catalyst. This was the essential element. He won the nobel prize for feeding the world.
Fed the world by ways of science
@@prelawnoob
Sinner or a saint?
Well, not quite. Haber originally used Osmium and Uran as catalysts but the process was developed further by scientist and engineers of the chemical company BASF that 1st used an iron oxide mixed catalyst.
@@12-j3melendezaeronjirob.3 Father of toxic gas and chemical warfare
His dark creation has been revealed
If I copy and paste this on my GCSE chemistry, will I get a 9?
Richard S-C yes... 9/100
Richard S-C 😂
and now our GCSE is gone BOOM T_T
You won't!
You shouldn't, because it is very inaccurate and at some times even wrong. I usually expect more from Ted-Ed.
After such an uplifting and impressive video, I was not expecting it to get really dark at the end.
In addition the the problems stated, the use of fertilizer after WWII largely contributes to the continuing decline of bee populations which could threaten our food production in the near-ish future. So while it was great for a while, it was something instated at the same time that we used nuclear weaponry without fully knowing long term effects. Sound familiar?
Haber was a genius, but lets not forget that he's also remembered as the father of chemical warfare. Without Haber's work, we wouldn't have goodies such as nerve agents and CX.
based
GREAT to see a break from the animation from Ted-Ed, not to mention the informative video
Thing is, Haber didn't develop this way of making nitrate for crops, he made it to be used in gunpowder for Germany during WWI.
1908 is not 1914
Haber process~!
chemical equation that feed the world~
Amazing~!
Also killed millions which he neglected to say
Zefall arise yet again by this necromancer
Zefall no problem, abracadabra always my guy
What sorcery is happening here😂😂😂😅
@@jarrodjames1820 ah yes
Plants actually can take nitrogen out of the air. Many plants in the Fabaceae family have a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen sequesting bacteria.
When did I say anything about culling.I only suggested that like many of our other wonderful inventions as a species they often have a double edge.
The Neolithic agricultural revolution was also double edged. Along with plentiful food came tooth decay class exploitation wars epidemic diseases etc. As a species humanity suffers from chronic amnesia(despite our glorious written histories, another gift from the Neolithic era ).
Nicely explained.
nitrogenase in Azotabacter Vinelandii fixes nitrogen at normal pressure and temperatures.
Missed the part where Haber was also driven by the need for Nazi explosives not just feeding people, and how developed the worst chemical weapons of the WW2.
Rocks on earth release plant available/bioavailable nitrogen by weathering, maybe people just need to grind up rocks to replace the haber Bosch process and avoid the consequences of ammonia byproducts
thank you so much
I feel like the more we work on something its going to have to effects on earth good or bad it help in the begging but something goes wrong in the end so this is great for now but something better will come out. those are my thoughts
the question is WHO will do it?
who came here from veritasium?
Explain the supposed "dangerous consequences". Merely claiming they exist, and also not weighing them against the benefits, gets us exactly what we got with the COVID scam, massive societal and medical damage.
I am sure Monsanto will solve this problem... lol
Bullshit, the greatest invention is soap.
3 billion people without food?
theoretically speaking, how about expanding the farming lands by 80%? without harber process, you need to say about this topic with more precesion. i am not following.
L video
Father of toxic gas, and chemical warfare
His dark creation has been revealed
Flow over no man’s land, a poisonous nightmare
A deadly mist on the battlefield
bruh nice!
Sabaton 🤟
It's amazing that bacteria can fix nitrogen more efficiently with a simple enzyme (nitrogenase) than the Haber process can with it's extremely high pressures and temperatures. This is pretty profound and, as a microbiologist, it is one of the things that amazes me most about microbes.
the Haber process actually wants to be at the lowest possible temperature as the forward reaction is endothermic
@@nazzzirismail The Haber process could theoretically run at a lower temperature, and while that would be better from an equilibrium point perspective, the reaction speed would be slowed down significantly. Bacteria fixing nitrogen isn't that efficient when you consider the slow speed.
@@danielcreatd872 no yeah youre right but just in general terms equilibrium lies to the left at high temperatures in the Haber process :)
Then why don’t we industrially produce ammonia from bacteria?
All this while I thought his name was pronounced "hey-bur"
Germans pronounce 'a' as aa and mostly r is silent in german language
I feel like this is missing an important footnote on Fritz Haber
HA
Haha, only showing one side of the Fritz Haber story.
Explain
@@renameagain5808 Fritz Haber developed chemical weapons for the Germans
Gas, chemicals, ww1, Ww2….. connect the dots….
this is my favorite TED video of all time, so informative and effective
can not agree more,.this process also can make nitric acid ,and nitric acid can be use to make smokeless gunpowder
jialu gu The process that is used to produce nitric acid from ammonia is called Ostwald process.
Really?!
Mostly, it is scientifically really inaccurate and at some times very wrong, but maybe it helps make the concept easier to grasp for casuals/non-chemists.
Yes, it is very fascinating technology, but unfortunatly much of the energy that is put into making ammonia (and the Haber-Bosch process needs a lot (!) of energy) is simply converted to "bio"-fuels which makes them very not "green" besides adding to the very problematic pollution of water bodies (mentioned in the clip) and problematic extend of transformation of free land and forests into farmland.
Really well made video, interesting historical insight too. Thank you TED and keep up the good work.
A long ago in eastern Prussia
Young men with great ambitions rise
So who can tell me who can say for sure
Which one will win the Nobel Prize?
Here's a fun story for you. Haber didn't invent the concept. The concept was invented by Kristian Birkeland and Sam Eyde in Norway in 1903, known as the Birkeland-Eyde process. It needed a lot of electrical power, so after our liberation in 1905, Eyde convinced the Norwegian government to go big on hydroelectric power, because this would be an endless resource since the water will keep flowing and people will need food. We therefore knew that the hydroelectric power had to remain the property of the people. But in 1910, the Haber-Bosch process was invented and it was much more energy efficient. So suddenly Norway had a lot more power than we needed and that could be used for hydrogen and aluminium and Norwegian industry could flourish. Then in the late 1960s, we found oil and gas and because of the decision we made with the hydroelectric power, we nationalized the oil as we had with the waterfalls before. So actually, the reason why Norway is the richest country in the world, is not the oil and gas, but the invention of artificial fertilizer.
I was trying to understand what haber's process and got tired, so I went to take a break and found this video!!!! Now I understand way better!!! THANKS!!
I find the background "music" unbearable and not useful.
and that is why kids, you dont waste food
it takes a lot of work
let's not pretend fritz haber was a great man trying to save the world through creating fertilizer. He was much more interested in turning the nitrogen into bomb making materials.
that point aside, it was a pretty good video. I've not seen the process so eloquently explained.
Not only that, he was advocate for using the chemical weapons in 1st WW and developed him self few weapons and methods to deploy those, he have the infamous title of Father of Chemical Warfare.
Non the less the Haber Process is one of greatest inventions of all times and that Nobel Prize went in the right hands regardless that those hands were drenched in blood at later time.
funestis
Actually, he won the Nobel Prize after WWI and all the chemical warfare stuff.
Ryan Dean thanks for correction :D
I checked, so he won the prize in 1918 and received it in 1919.
Father of toxic gas and chemical warfare, Fritz Haber.
That video is awesome! Thanks to the creators:
They explained such a difficult topic so well!
The beginning of this video makes a lot of statements about the necessity of this process regarding our capacity to feed ourselves that are neither cited nor peer reviewed. True, this has boosted productivity/acre but it is also true that the food system is so complex economically, that to make such a claim is preposterous. Especially in light of the industrial food economy only representing 30% of the world food production. Topsoil is being lost at an astonishing rate in the US and it is because soil is used as a holder for the nitrogen spray, which goes straight into the gulf of mexico. Im curious if it really truely is necessary to have this process, because it requires natural gas to perform, how long it will remain economic. (Hint: it is not economic now, its just subsidized. ) See: navdanyainternational.org/the-farmers-crisis/ See: Documentary King Corn
Thank you. I appreciate your thoughtful and intelligent comment.
I'm convinced that youtube is a den of ignorance spreading shiny nonsense.
It's very economic. Fertilizer plants are lucrative, and newly commissioned plants are operating at 90% energetic efficiency. It was profitable when gas was $10 / million Btu. Is that where gas is now? Nope. Typical price is $3.00 - $4.00. Net profits of $200 - $300 per ton sold.
I'm hungry now!!! 😫
its been 4 years have u ate yet ?
@@vgoated.524 lmao fr
Regenerative agriculturists would say that the Haber process was the worst thing to happen to the world. Many would claim that inorganic fertilizers are killing the earths soils in the long term, causing global warming, and will ultimately cause worldwide famine.
watching this before my final chemistry exam really helped
This really helped me for my chemistry presentation on Haber process. Thankyou so much. I wish you could do one for Ostwald and Contact as well
Dude, 1 2 3 You Rock ! Awesomely Boomed My Mind Within JUST A Flick ? I Directly Learned Each & Every Step Showned :) :P
Actually it wasn't that great, he didn't explain how the 3 different different reactions occurred in the machine at 3:53, and that's the most important part!
where can I get that background music
Great video, very informative, good science. Not sure about the end though: 'Haber did not foresee this problem when he introduced his invention...' It should be noted that Haber used his talents and discoveries to lead the German war effort in WWI, including vigorously pioneering and championing the chemical warfare program.
yeah but he did not know his invention would eventually lead to that
You can’t ignore the intent here. His research was predicated on producing explosives and chemical warfare weapons for a fascist army. He should not be glorified for his discovery, no matter how it has benefited society.
@@stephenordog3192 But Germany in ww1 was not fascist.
Infact it was better than UK
@@stephenordog3192 Germany in WW1 really wasn’t worse then it’s enemies. They didn’t even start the war.
Fascist Germany was ww2 not ww1
@@stephenordog3192 Bruh, fascist Germany literally kicked him out out he program and his country because he was BORN Jewish. The country he lost everything for in WW1 stabbed him in the back in WW2.
A long ago in eastern Prussia
Young men with great ambitions rise
So who can tell me who can say for sure
Which one will win the Nobel Prize?
so we're just not gonna talk about the war crimes huh
Music is too loud and distracting
Haber wasn't the first to create artificial fertilizer. That credit goes to Kristian Birkeland with the invention of the Birkeland-Eyde process creating nitric acid also taking nitrogen from the air. Problem is that it takes a large amounts of electricity. Haber's method was a lot more cost efficient.
Hungry people do not invent and study, few people are content with plenty. As one one once said "necessity is the mother of invention" What was neglected in this video is that ammonia is and awesome refrigerant albeit somewhat noxious but much more environmentally friendly than Freon. Weigh the balance and I believe it a net positive that allows humans to grow, explore, expand and potentially derive the new frontiers that our descendants will prosper from.
This is complete B.S.
I'm a farmer. A permaculture farmer. My farm produces 400% more than conventional (GMO) crops without using any fertilizer or weedkillers or pesticides.
Fritz Haber also invented the gas for the Holocaust, right?
No, but he did make great contributions to developments in chlorine and mustard gas used during the first world war as chemical agents against the Allied Powers.
Please add nitrogen or Harber or fertilizer to the title of this lesson so more people can find this video. It is very hard to find but very well done.
Coming after watching the Veritasium video
This a great lesson in equilibrium, LeChatelier’s principle, and fixing nitrogen, unfortunately the video did not nearly tell the entire story.
First a catalyst was needed along with the other “stressors” like increasing the concentration of the reactants and increasing the pressure (that was mentioned) to make the reaction viable because the Keq for the reaction is very small (~ 10^-5) It would of been great to mention how Haber overcame this? The reaction is exothermic so why did he still use a higher temperature?? So much meat that was left on the bone especially THE HISTORY!
Fritz Haber was after making more bombs which requires natural forms of nitrates like ammonium nitrate to be mined that his country was exhausted. Because of the naval blockade on Germany, his country could not import the necessary raw ingredients, especially from places like Peru so the WWI was going to end earlier for Germany if Haber did not figure out how to make nitrates out of the nitrogen that was in the air. Ammonia once made is easily converted to the explosive nitrates used in ammunition and bombs. His main goal was to feed the war machine not the population. The result of it leading to fertilizers is great contribution to society but not Haber’s primary reason for developing the process. Haber was about winning the war so that there might be a time to use the new fertilizers feed his countries growing population in the future. His Nobel Prize was controversial because he extended WWI and thousands more suffered on both sides but his process would prevent massive world hunger in future.
Great video on the selected topics that wanted to be highlighted but so much more could have been taught in chemistry and in history. Sometimes they just need to taught together.
3:45 "if you're in a crowded room, sets of two people just started merging into one, most natural thing in the world"
Hi
Your videos are very informative, helpful and fun to learn with outstanding visuals!
You Didn't Mentioned Carl Bosch.
Cool Raazia deez Nutz
Very interesting content but I was completely put off by the annoying and totally unnecessary music track. What is it with informative presentations thinking that it is helpful to have a music track?
The process produces over 450 million metric tons of CO2-about 1.2% of global CO2 emissions
i wish haber didn't live everything he does is just not good, for exampleif he didn't discover the Haber process there would be no more than 4 billion people living which is something I want and even if u really think of it, it's a good idea as there would be fewer bad people around us 'casue less human there are less crimes you would see.
there might be people arguing that this will make the world less competitive which will lead the world to advance more slowly... well I don't think so because there would be fewer difficulties and problems in our lives which in turn we'll all live a better life.
and not to mention that he is the guy who was the reason for killing hundreds of thousands of people in world war one and two
The video didn't mention the dark side of Fritz Haber, but maybe it could be squeezed into another video?
That part at the end about ammonia being transported away from crops has literally nothing to do with the production process yet the narrator implies it can be fixed that way...
Who says encouraging greater and greater human population growth is a good thing ?
If there were no Haber process it's possible human numbers would be less and more than likely so too our most vexing problems as a species.
This is kind of a chicken and egg problem. We would only have 4 billion people if we did not have the Hauber process, but we need the Hauber process because we have more than 7 billion people, which we only have because of the Hauber process.
Is it really be best invention? If we do hit an unsolvable population crisis and the population collapses then we might very well consider the Hauber process to be a contributing factor and thus the worse mistake we've ever made.
The problem is although we know that a population crisis is possible, we cannot know exactly how it will happen or when.
Then again, Please keep the living alive. The afterlife is crowded enough.
*Overpopulation* can be a problem, but if genocide is the solution, then I do not think that an actual solution was found ¬_¬ I do not wanna think that Hittler did any favor to the world.
Neither I think that anyone would stop -fu...- making babies.
From this perspective the _" _*_oops,_*_ I am pregnant "_ situation is more than just a screw up to your economy, now is also a screw up to the planet too.
If you were one of the 3 billion 'excess' humans alive because of the Haber-Bosch process: perhaps you might not consider it such a huge mistake? And BTW - how would you determine who are 'the chosen ones'?
Ral Crux It is not a "If we do hit an unsolvable population crises", it is 'When we do hit an unsolvable population crises' People have this delusion that there is a chance that it'll never happen.
People will multiply, effectively greater then double. The only excuse I have herd that makes any sense is that eventually the population will level out, and about 14 million. We are already seeing clean water issues arising in the west. Think about how it would be in the future. There wouldn't be any resources, just war and famine.
Genocide is the only answer. Nature will prevail, she always has. When humans push natures boundaries then those not fit will die. Once the population has shrunk once more nature will resume her nurture, and humans will repeat the cycle, and make the same mistakes. This is the human curse.
If technology keeps up like: vertical cities, lab food, atomic water, asteroids and commets minnig. Well there won't be much trouble, except if that technology doesn't show up soon.
*Science is the tool humans will use to save themselves, **DaCamponTwee** .*
I am not worried on over population more than ignorance. Only our intelligence will save us. Not praying, nor complaining.
I remember meeting ppl from a rural farming town in Mexico, they had so much nitrogen in their water that the whites of their eyes were actually sky blue. With their help, we all building a new well, up stream from their crops and cattle to deliver uncontaminated water.
Perfect video. Really explains it well.
Very nicely presented, the mind is so intricately made and to think we don't even tap all it's resources. Thank God for the human mind how it is use for the greater benefit of their fellow human beings...
the bunch of little NEPHULIM and comy racing liars
Why is is that we produce enough food for 7 billion people but
870 million people of the 7 billion people in the world, suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012?
greed
war, famine/drought, rural isolation or North Korea
the most beautiful and interesting educational video i have seen so far!!!
Ever heard of composting? It's natures Haber process..
How many tons of CO2 is produced every year like this?
They skipped over the fact that he made this for German wore.fair derring world wore one
thing is, 3 billion people ARE without food
Message me if interested. I personally just think that yes this is a great discovery, but maybe we have known this before, I know for a fact that generations before us were smarter, and knew more. For example all humans do today in age is go to the doctor to see what is wrong with them but the doctor is swayed into giving you medication, when for YEARS and freaking YEARS we used holistic approaches. It is sad what has happened to us. We must awake and realize its not all that complicated, and we can do this all ourselves. Again, it has been done MANY times before
nah best invention was double soft toilet paper
Of course Haber knew the value large scale synthesis of ammonia would be to agriculture. During WWI the priority was ammonium nitrate, (NH4)(NO3) for explosives. Prior to Haber-Bosch (NH4)(NO3) was produced from guano. In fact battles were fought for Pacific and Atlantic islands with large deposits during and many years prior to WWI. Industrial production was immensely more cost effective than hauling thousands of tons of guano thousands of miles. Gunpowder was without question the motivation for Haber-Bosch in 1913.
Post WWI BASF became the first large scale manufacturer of agricultural (NH4)(NO3).
Jay Wilkins
Without the US government, there would be a little more food in the world.
this video is awesome it explained what the harbour process was to me so clearly
The solution is for everyone to grow their own veggies and chickens lol. The book The One Straw Revolution makes gardening exponentially easier, and cheaper!
0:50 Not really, because the population would not get big enough, it would slowly grow until it stabilises at 4 000 million people. And that's what will happen in the future unless another similar breakthrough is done (genetic modification?), or we finally leave Earth to colonise other planets and moons: it'll stabilise at around 10 000 million, because there's still a limit to the amount of food we can produce.
I would argue that you are wrong and, according to my google-fu, that the alternative you mention has already been found:
Organic farming methods -
"We were all surprised by what we found," said Catherine Badgley, a Michigan paleoecologist who was one of the lead researchers. The first model yielded 2,641 kilocalories ("calories") per person per day, just under the world's current production of 2,786 calories but significantly higher than the average caloric requirement for a healthy person of between 2,200 and 2,500. The second model yielded 4,381 calories per person per day, 75 percent greater than current availability-and a quantity that could theoretically sustain a much larger human population than is currently supported on the world's farmland. (It also laid to rest another concern about organic agriculture; see sidebar at left.)"
www.worldwatch.org/node/4060
It might require growing less cereal grains than we do though.
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=organic-farming-yields-and-feeding-the-world-under-climate-change
According to the UN, roughly 1/3rd of the food produced every year is lost or wasted. www.unep.org/wed/quickfacts/
Meaning, that if we can feed 7 billion people with this process we are only reaching about `5.6 billion people do to improper handling and distribution. I would argue this is a farm proximity issue.
Somehow, only a little over 1 billion people are going hungry each year...
www.actionagainsthunger.org/impact/food-security-livelihoods?gclid=CLjj0Mbc8boCFUMV7AodB18AMg
Yet, despite the claim, growing foods in fertilizer has been tested to yield less or similar yields to traditional composting methods in corn (the most produced grain in the world according to business insider) and the effects of fertilizer can not be sustained over the long term, more and more of it must be used as well as in tandem with many herbicides and fungicides.
www.mauialohaaina.org/documents/CUT_Compost.pdf
www.businessinsider.com/10-crops-that-feed-the-world-2011-9#1-corn-10
Not to mention that 50% of chemical fertilizers you stated that isn't absorbed by plants creating that runoff problem that then creates deadzones and huge algae blooms in streams, rivers, and other larger bodies of water like the Gulf of Mexico.
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fertilizer-runoff-overwhelms-streams
Excuse me if I fail to see this as either the greatest discovery or a cry for overpopulation. I can not prove that we would've been able to grow enough food to sustain the growth this planet has seen but I know that it is possible with the organic techniques of traditional organic agriculture to feed the current population and more.
Chemical fertilizer makes farming easier and more efficient by making it less work for the farmer and making machinery use possible, but giving less yield per acre as well as contributing to the worlds soil erosion/runoff problem and the myth that we must "grow more to feed the world".
The case would not be that 3 billion would not have food; rather, there would just be less people. Unlike nitrogen, you can’t produce people from thin air.
The food has to exist to produce those billions of people.
I don't think this is legitimate. We have had a larger population on earth before now, it is only recently that we have been able to count the population, and even that is insignificant, because there is way more death now( not due to natural causes) that happens this day in age, because of things man has created, and utilized. It is hard to explain I guess, but if I took a little time, I could explain further
Fritz Haber was a mess up dude. He invented his process to make ammonia to keep Germany up to pace with a supply of explosives. He also had some weird relationships with his lady friends. Kind of ironic that he wanted to make explosives but made a life-saving ammonia supply. Kooky.
Except Haber didn't give a shit about its use as a fertilizer. He just wanted to find a way to mass produce chemicals for gas attacks in WW1.
Your little purple and gold bars at 2:30 are misleading. The graph on the top correctly shows that the amount of ammonia never actually decreases, it just stops increasing. But the little gold bar on the right, which presumably represents the same thing, goes down.
I believe this video is deviating the fact of fertilizers and the real story of its invention... who do you work for?????????
No talk about Haber's horrible weapons development and personal overseeing of his gas being used on 10,000 allied forces?
alguien que lo traduzca al español
There was very little "delving" into anything
La creación no es un acto de casualidad estos procesos naturales tienen su respaldo que recaen en la responsabilidad humana somos hijos de la tierra por eso desarrollamos tecnologias verdes para ayudar a restablecer el equilibrio o acaso pensamos que esto no estaba previsto 7000 millones que alimentar o más....mis respetos.
You want to tell the story of the Haber Process than you need to do it right. I'm sure you're familiar with the story of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader and how that story ended in the 6th episode. Try something a little more like that if you're going to pander to the masses. Life is a wonderful thing, any and all things that harm it are and will be exposed, and scrupulously dissected as our concept of morality forms from that of our primitive ancestors who saw bashing each other with rocks and sticks over food sources as little more disconcerting as people see using pesticides, antibiotics or mowing down grass, today.
You can't mention Haber on UA-cam, where every pop science channel has already mentioned him and raised awareness about his motives and how upsetting they were and expect us to just be cool with you leaving out that integral perspective into the nature of the beast.
Whatever, I'm too upset to even type anymore. I just want you to know that all that chemistry fell on deaf ears since you failed to mention Haber's motives. You even say it as though he wanted to feed people. You're twisting and bending language around obstacles and misleading people and it's wrong. That's it, it's just plain wrong.
If you're willing to do it here, on this subject, who knows when and where you will do it next. To me this has seriously hurt your future as a trustworthy source of information and I have been watching and listening for awhile.
ABitOfTheUniverse ..damn man were you stuck in the bathroom that you typed this much😁
Aaa viidiaa joine zamo padi gyo, bapuuu.....
Muy edUCATIVO “!!!!Ç
Thnx a lot!!! Really helped!
3 billion people go without food anyway?
#revision
It's funny how such a bad person end up doing so much good for the world. But I think this invention is not something that someone else wouldn't be able to figure out, so less kudos for him