Sciencemadness Discussion Board

A question that might be important.

anon234 - 14-3-2013 at 12:39

I was taking apart lithium batteries to obtain the lithium metal, something which I have done before. Without thinking, however, I brought a blowtorch to the other product inside, iron disulfide. It decomposed, and afterwards I am feeling just a little bit.. wierd. I was outside, but I know that there might have been some kind of sulfur oxide product released, should I be worried?

elementcollector1 - 14-3-2013 at 12:40

H2S, and yes. Go lie down, take a drink of water. Anyone else know how to neutralize a good dose of H2S?

Bot0nist - 14-3-2013 at 12:47

Sodium nitrite injection. He is fine though, I would wager, and if not he should seek help from a medical professional instead of wasting his precious last minutes typing on an online forum, lol. UTFSE for H2S poisoning. there is a really good thread about it from a while back.

anon234 - 14-3-2013 at 12:55

well, I just feel a little sick to my stomach, and a little cloudy-headed, i dont have much trouble breathing. That'll teach me to think first, I suppose

anon234 - 14-3-2013 at 20:47

alright, hopefully I don't edema in my sleep or something. wish me luck

Endimion17 - 15-3-2013 at 01:36

You won't get oedema. Like hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulphide wrecks the cytochrome complex, so you breathe and breathe, but no cellular respiration occurs and you pass out when your brain experiences lack of oxygen. You should be so lucky, because between nothing and passing out, there's a window of nasty symptoms, and they all appear in a few minutes. H2S has a high metabolic speed, unlike some complex poisons. If you're fine after one hour, you're ok.

Don't worry. Take the day off, watch some TV, take a nap. Breathe. :)

DerAlte - 15-3-2013 at 20:25

Why do you think a lithium cell (if that's what it was and not an Li ion cell) would contain iron disulphide?

See the thread http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=8645#p...

AFAIK there is no sulphide in such cells, either type. Bringing a blowtorch - if you wanted lithium metal - was the height of folly! You'd just burn it off. As for H2S, I think you suffered from a case of chemical paranoia, all too common these days. Like those that feel faint looking at elemental mercury. Rest easy and take a sedative. And investigate the chemistry of batteries before you torch them - a NiCd might have given you toxic fumes...

Der Alte

elementcollector1 - 15-3-2013 at 20:30

I don't know, the smell of brimstone was very prevalent in those batteries (I've taken apart quite a few). Some other sulfide?