I had recently performed the "smoke bomb" reaction between Potassium Nitrate, and sugar. After the reaction had completed, a thick paste of
yellowish/white material covered the reaction vessel. I had read this was Potassium Carbonate, so I decided to try to neutralize it simply using
Hydrochloric Acid. Well, much to my surprise, lots of brown looking gas was evolved, and frankly, moved my butt away from that thing as quickly as I
could. Could anybody out there provide an explanation to what happened?
(Nitrogen Dioxide Perhaps?) |