thesmug
Hazard to Others
Posts: 370
Registered: 17-1-2014
Location: Chicago, Il (USA)
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Potassium Halide Solution Smell
Earlier today I was making solutions of KBr and KI and noticed they smelled a bit sweet and had a hard to describe hospital like smell. I've made
solutions of KBr and KI before but never noticed this, does anyone know what it might be?
|
|
|
forgottenpassword
Hazard to Others
Posts: 374
Registered: 12-12-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Probably bromine and iodine. Iodide solutions often have a yellow colour due to iodine. The nose is very sensitive to certain odours.
|
|
|
thesmug
Hazard to Others
Posts: 370
Registered: 17-1-2014
Location: Chicago, Il (USA)
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I originally thought that but it doesn't smell like iodine at all (I have some iodine crystals to compare with). I don't know what bromine smells like
but people say it smells really bad, and my solutions smell very good.
|
|
|
HgDinis25
Hazard to Others
Posts: 439
Registered: 14-3-2014
Location: Portugal
Member Is Offline
Mood: Who drank my mercury?
|
|
Maybe solvent contaminations in your reagents? How did you prepare them?
Diethyl ether is often described as having a hospital smell...
|
|
|
thesmug
Hazard to Others
Posts: 370
Registered: 17-1-2014
Location: Chicago, Il (USA)
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I personally didn't prepare the reagents, but the solutions were in distilled water, so I really seriously doubt it was from the water.
|
|
|
HgDinis25
Hazard to Others
Posts: 439
Registered: 14-3-2014
Location: Portugal
Member Is Offline
Mood: Who drank my mercury?
|
|
With all due respect, if you're saying the solutions are in distilled water, than you only have water and the halide. Neither the water nor the halide
give off smell. So, you have to assume contamination.
|
|
|
elementcollector1
International Hazard
Posts: 2684
Registered: 28-12-2011
Location: The Known Universe
Member Is Offline
Mood: Molten
|
|
How pure was the salt? If it's anything like food grade, they often contain additives such as anti-clumping agents.
Elements Collected:52/87
Latest Acquired: Cl
Next in Line: Nd
|
|
|
Zyklon-A
International Hazard
Posts: 1547
Registered: 26-11-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: Fluorine radical
|
|
My KBr gives no smell in solution or the solid salt. I don't have any KI, but I bet the same is true if it's pure. BTW, bromine smells very similar to
chlorine, but not quite as bad.
|
|
|
forgottenpassword
Hazard to Others
Posts: 374
Registered: 12-12-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Maybe a cleaner had just mopped the floor? 
|
|
|
thesmug
Hazard to Others
Posts: 370
Registered: 17-1-2014
Location: Chicago, Il (USA)
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
ACS grade, definitely didn't have any anti-clumping agent (it was in a solid block inside its container). It was from Elemental Scientific. I
suspect contamination from their manufacturing process.
|
|
|
HgDinis25
Hazard to Others
Posts: 439
Registered: 14-3-2014
Location: Portugal
Member Is Offline
Mood: Who drank my mercury?
|
|
ACS grade with smelly contamination? Not happening...
|
|
|
thesmug
Hazard to Others
Posts: 370
Registered: 17-1-2014
Location: Chicago, Il (USA)
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Yeah, I thought that too. The only thing left would be contamination on the inside of the bottles I used.
|
|
|
ScienceHideout
Hazard to Others
Posts: 391
Registered: 12-3-2011
Location: In the Source
Member Is Offline
Mood: High Spin
|
|
With all due respect to elemental scientific, a couple years ago I received NaF that was blue... I like to give all my chemicals the benefit of the
doubt and think that they are pure, but if anything ever goes wrong, I blame it on a purity issue. Anyone can dump "No Salt" into a bottle and write
KCl, ACS grade on it. It is whether they get caught or not that matters... not to mention moral and ethical issues that come with that.
hey, if you are reading this, I can't U2U, but you are always welcome to send me an email!
|
|
|
thesmug
Hazard to Others
Posts: 370
Registered: 17-1-2014
Location: Chicago, Il (USA)
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Did you ever find out what made it blue?
|
|
|
ScienceHideout
Hazard to Others
Posts: 391
Registered: 12-3-2011
Location: In the Source
Member Is Offline
Mood: High Spin
|
|
I suspect that it was not originally intended as use as a laboratory reagent, and the company who produced it dyed it blue so people don't mistake it
for something else... Being a chemist, whenever I see white powder I think, "Sodium chloride, calcium chloride... or mercury chloride... I won't take
a chance!" But someone else might put it on their French fries if it is not blue.
hey, if you are reading this, I can't U2U, but you are always welcome to send me an email!
|
|
|
deltaH
Dangerous source of unreferenced speculation
Posts: 1663
Registered: 30-9-2013
Location: South Africa
Member Is Offline
Mood: Heavily protonated
|
|
Did your distilled water per chance come from an area where MTBE water contamination is known? MTBE is slightly soluble in water and has found it's
way into some water supplies. It is problematic because it distills over with the water. Adding an ionic salt to the water, however, may cause a
salting out effect and cause it's odour to be more noticable. If this is true, you should have similar results by dissolving even table salt in the
same water you used. Do you still have a batch of that specific water left over? I'd suggest saturating it with table salt and taking a wiff 
MTBE's smell is described as ethereal with a slight mintyness. There are also other oxygenates used by the petrochemical industry that may be
responsible, for example TAME and ETBE.
[Edited on 6-4-2014 by deltaH]
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
