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Haber-Bosch and Human Population

Provided by: MIT OpenCourseWare |Published on: November 22, 2022

Videos Grades 9-12, ap-college

Synopsis

This video provides an overview of the Haber-Bosch process in making synthetic fertilizers, which likely contributed to population growth in the 20th century.
The video also walks students through the constraints of using the Haber-Bosch process to produce ammonia in the long term.

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Subjects: Chemistry

Authors: Professor Jeffrey Grossman

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

The video provides a simplified overview of the science behind the green revolution and the population boom in the 20th century.
This video includes a real-world example of how chemistry can be used to make improvements in efficiency and production.

Additional Prerequisites

The video is from a university lecture and contains some material that may be copyrighted.
Before watching the video, students should understand concepts like moles, chemical equations, chemical bonds, limiting reagents, and how to use the periodic table.
There were other factors that likely played a much larger role in the exponential increase in human population (e.g., penicillin and other antibiotics, vaccines, better refrigeration, improvements in basic hygiene, and medical interventions that both lowered childhood mortality and extended the lifespan significantly).

Differentiation

This video will likely be most useful to advanced chemistry students.
Considering the potential repercussions of the Haber-Bosch process on nitrous oxide emissions (a potent greenhouse gas), water pollution, population growth, and the fact that the technology was created for making bombs and chemical weapons, have students investigate other economic, environmental, and social outcomes of the process.
History students can research the history of companies such as Bosch and I.G. Farben and their use of this technology during WWII in Germany.
Use this interactive lesson to learn more about changes in agricultural practices and population trends.
Have students evaluate the relevancy of the simplified model used at the end, which does not take into account the water, land, oxygen, and space required for maintaining other living organisms and the many ecosystems that humans reply on for survival on Earth.

Scientist Notes

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MIT OpenCourseWare

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