Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Accidentaly made some H2S in the school lab

Accidentaly made some H2S in the school lab

Adas - 10-12-2012 at 12:39

Hello, chemists!

Today, we had a little "accident" in our chemistry lab

We had 5 minutes left until the end of the lesson, so I persuaded the teacher to do a little experiment - to ignite some Mg turnings and put them into water while burning.
So, the Mg was burning, and there was a beaker of water in which I was goint to put it. It glowed under the water nicely, but then we realised that it evolved some H2S. We opened the windows for some fresh air.
My theory is that there was a water-sulfur suspension in the beaker(very plausible in our lab), and the burning Mg made some hydrogen which reacted with hot sulfur.
Then, we repeated the experiment wirh normal water, it was much more violent (because I dropped it in earlier) and there was even a nice hydrogen explosion

No more smell..

I just found this interesting so I decided to let you know.

kristofvagyok - 10-12-2012 at 12:55

Remember that H2S has a really-really strong odor and could be detected even in ppm concentrations.

We had 2 gas cylinder what was filled with H2S. When they were closed it still had a smell like a rotten egg.

SM2 - 10-12-2012 at 13:00

~~~~Egg Harbor~~~~~actually it's good that you can smell it. The guys who inhale this "deadly" (deadly in both ways) usually croak because they no longer smell the H2S at such high concentrations.

kristofvagyok - 10-12-2012 at 13:13

Quote: Originally posted by Fennel Ass Ih Tone

The guys who inhale this "deadly" (deadly in both ways) usually croak because they no longer smell the H2S at such high concentrations.

There is no such high concentration what you can't smell, belive me

Long ago I had worked next to someone who had a lot preps with thiols including H2S, EtSH, Et(SH)2, H2Sx (hydrogen-polysulfide), thioacetaldehyde and a lot like those and I can tell that there is no such thing that you can't smell them

unionised - 10-12-2012 at 13:37

Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok

Quote: Originally posted by Fennel Ass Ih Tone

The guys who inhale this "deadly" (deadly in both ways) usually croak because they no longer smell the H2S at such high concentrations.

There is no such high concentration what you can't smell, belive me

Why should we believe you?
It's fairly well documented that H2S poisons the olfactory system at high concentrations and then you can't smell it.

kristofvagyok - 10-12-2012 at 13:45

Quote: Originally posted by unionised

Why should we believe you?
It's fairly well documented that H2S poisons the olfactory system at high concentrations and then you can't smell it.

It has a such strong odor that before it could poison your nose then you will probably run away, because it is such unbearable.

Same with ammonia. Less know that NH3 is almost the same strong poison as HCN the only difference is that ammonia is rammish and therefore (almost) no accident happens with it.

bob800 - 10-12-2012 at 14:11

Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok

It has a such strong odor that before it could poison your nose then you will probably run away, because it is such unbearable.

I guess you haven't read this: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=10...

Quote: Originally posted by Klute

The smell was pretty strong when I took the gas mask off, so I spent as little time as possible in there, just the time to seperate layers and add more solvent.

Then i started to get dizzy. I realized i didn't sense the smell in the gas mask at all, though a relative passing by was disgusted by it. My hands started to shake, my heart beat raced, and I felt wxeak.

kristofvagyok - 10-12-2012 at 14:27

Quote: Originally posted by bob800

I guess you haven't read this:

Yes, I haven't red Klute-s report from his accident. What I write is based on my own or my friends experience. I has never ever had problem working with H2S, KCN/HCN, PH3 and several other well known toxic substance and based on my experience I could never ever reach so high concentration of H2S that I couldn't smell it.

Endimion17 - 10-12-2012 at 15:21

No, ammonia is not nearly as toxic as hydrogen cyanide or hydrogen sulphide. Ammonia fucks up the kidneys and messes up with gasses and pH. HCN, H2S and CO irreversibly mess up with hemoglobin and cytochrome system. They're true blood poisons whereas ammonia is not.

BTW you don't need a higher concentration of H2S to deaden your olfactory nerve. You just have to wait long enough.

IrC - 10-12-2012 at 16:45

Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok

"What I write is based on my own or my friends experience"

"based on my experience I could never ever reach so high concentration of H2S that I couldn't smell it"

"There is no such high concentration what you can't smell, belive me"

From: http://lateralscience.co.uk/Fluorine/Fluorine.html

This most reactive of the elements proved to be exceedingly difficult and dangerous to isolate. Fluorine chemists who were mauled by the tiger-

Humphrey Davy of England: poisoned, recovered.

George and Thomas Knox of Ireland: both poisoned, one bedridden 3 years, recovered.

P. Louyet of Belgium: poisoned, died.

Jerome Nickels of Nancy, France: poisoned, died.

George Gore of England: fluorine / hydrogen explosion, narrowly escaped injury.

Henri Moissan of France: poisoned several times, success, but shortened lifespan.

Each of these were far more skilled in chemistry than you based upon what I read in your posts. All had one thing in common. The day before their fateful experiments each could have said 'in my experience Fluorine won't blow me up, poison me, put me in bed for years' and so on.

I suggest you try becoming more chemist and less k3wl. Before the last experience you have in chemistry is the one which shows you the error in your cavalier arrogance.

It is clear you are not studying up on the dangers. From Endimion17's post :

"No, ammonia is not nearly as toxic as hydrogen cyanide or hydrogen sulphide. Ammonia fucks up the kidneys and messes up with gasses and pH. HCN, H2S and CO irreversibly mess up with hemoglobin and cytochrome system. They're true blood poisons whereas ammonia is not.

BTW you don't need a higher concentration of H2S to deaden your olfactory nerve. You just have to wait long enough."

From your comments clearly you did not study the msds's and toxicology involved in the chemicals or any possible products or you would have known about the destruction of oxygen transport mechanisms in the blood as well as the sense of smell issue from H2S. Stories are plentiful online covering over a hundred years of the experiences of many people from chemists to workers around poison oil wells. Not trying to come down on you, but your 'in my experience' comment is meaningless in the face of the real world tragedies prevalent in a large amount of literature if one only researches the subject. One should be studying such information before doing any experiments. Cover starting chemicals, products, possible side reactions and their products. In the middle of a reaction is the worst possible time to be gaining this information.

[Edited on 12-11-2012 by IrC]

SM2 - 10-12-2012 at 17:02

Quote: Originally posted by Endimion17

BTW you don't need a higher concentration of H2S to deaden your olfactory nerve. You just have to wait long enough.

'
Wow, you truly seem an expert on the in's and out's of H2S toxicity!