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Author: Subject: Nitrogen Dioxide Smell
ewalcacer
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[*] posted on 12-12-2012 at 12:20


I really don't wanna go to the doctor... It's gonna take hours there :(
I calculated that this lab has a volume of 360m³ and it's not very ventilated.
Am I in danger?
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hissingnoise
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[*] posted on 12-12-2012 at 13:16


You could call your doctor for his advice . . .
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[*] posted on 12-12-2012 at 13:32


hissingnoise, do you really expect his doctor will know anything about nitrogen dioxide poisoning? It's not a common boo boo and ouchie they encounter all the time. They know shit about it. It's like WP burns.
Even doctors at ER won't have a clue what to do except to apply oxygen and supportive therapy if needed.

The best advice is to passively ventilate the lab during the next 24 hours until the smell is barely detectable. You know the concentration is way too high (to allow more than 15-30 min of exposure without getting into mild acute poisoning stage) if the upper respiratory system starts feeling warm and there's a weird fuzzy feeling, but if there's just a hint of smell, it's ok. NO2 seeps out of nitric acid bottles all the time. The "smell of labs" is partially due to NO2.

ewalcacer, leave the lab until tomorrow. Where's the rush?




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Mailinmypocket
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[*] posted on 12-12-2012 at 13:45


I have gotten more than a whiff of NOx gases in the past accidentally. The fear of the "what if I inhaled too much" did cross my mind every time. A couple times I panicked but really, unless its great big lungfuls... I *personally* wouldn't worry that much.

Every time it has happened I just ventilated the area, went for a walk or went to do something to take my mind off of it and I was fine.

This isn't medical advice and of course, I would consult a doctor if things felt wrong. But to start calling the doctor because you experienced a whiff of the gas is, in my opinion, overkill and just more stressful to you than anything.
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[*] posted on 12-12-2012 at 13:57


I'm home now and feeling well. Due to the flu or not, I'm coughing a little but no weird sensation. I'm breathing with no problems.
I called some people from other sectors and they weren't able to smell the odor described by me as sweet and chlorine like odor, so I guess the lab is safe. Yesterday I produced such an insane and concentrated ammount of NO2 (very dark brown clouds inside the beaker) on the fume hood by making copper nitrate with copper and concentrated nitric acid and not a single hint of NO2 was detected. Today, with such a little ammount of silver nitrate the whole lab was infected with that scary and sweet smell. It's terrifying :(

I decided to make this because it was an old silver nitrate solution. I was going to throw it away (5% silver nitrate solution) and it would be such a waste, specially since silver nitrate is such an expensive reagent. Heated the solution untill all water was gone and then stuffed into the muffle furnace. I'm only going to know if it was worth it if I'm feeling well next monday, but I got in my hands some neat analytical purity elemental silver.

Man, I'm getting tired of experimental chemistry... I know what I was messing with and it was my fault to do it like that. I'm gonna ask my company to get me the best mask filter (my current one only works against organic vapors) available... I only hope I survive this stupid thing :)
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Endimion17
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[*] posted on 12-12-2012 at 15:29


You really shouldn't put such things into muffle furnaces... unless it's a special kind of furnace...

It's great you've decided to save the silver. It's just too precious to throw away.

[Edited on 12-12-2012 by Endimion17]




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[*] posted on 23-12-2012 at 14:40


Quote: Originally posted by TechnologicallyRetarded  
I've searched for some time for a thread addressing the dangers and removal of NOx, so far this is the closest. I can sympathise - as I'm sure most of us can - with MagicJigPipe and his incident.

I recently attempted a TNP synthesis and being aware of the toxicity of NOx I did my best to get rid of most of it.

I have no fume hood. It is regrettable, but an ongoing goal nonetheless.

My set-up was quickfit and the synthesis was done outside. The NOx was led through a solution of 25g Sodium Metabisulfite (Wine brewing grade) and 15g NaOH in 200ml water and much crushed ice. Much was dissolved, but a layer of faint red rested on top.

Then suddenly a massive surge of this scrubbing solution travelled back into by barely nitrated Phenol! Most upsetting.

Can we collaborate forces to solve this problem? NOx has always been a problem to me, and will continue to be till I get it nailed. I'm still sure that an Iced scrubbing solution is the way, but how will we do this without get any sucked up?

Flicking through Google I saw articles referring to NH3 and Sulfide as scrubbing agents too.

Tr


Use an empty gas washing bottle between the apparatus you are using and the iced scrubbing solution. That way the solution will be sucked into the gas washing bottle but not your nitrating apparatus :).




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[*] posted on 2-1-2013 at 18:51


My thought on this is to tell the emergency room that I was distilling nitric acid to make explosives, and maybe a hot looking nurse would be impressed by it because attractive woman like bad boys anyway.
Many many years ago when I would buy 35 boxes of matches at the store, I would always brag about the explosive I was going to make to the cashier especially if she was attractive.
I would rather spend a little time in jail and have a hot babe waiting for me than to have nobody.
Every methamphetamine synthesizer I know of has waaayyy more selection of mates than someone who goes to the emergency room and says I was just cleaning my toilet with such and such.
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[*] posted on 3-1-2013 at 03:51


Quote: Originally posted by shannon dove  
My thought on this is to tell the emergency room that I was distilling nitric acid to make explosives, and maybe a hot looking nurse would be impressed by it because attractive woman like bad boys anyway.
Many many years ago when I would buy 35 boxes of matches at the store, I would always brag about the explosive I was going to make to the cashier especially if she was attractive.
I would rather spend a little time in jail and have a hot babe waiting for me than to have nobody.
Every methamphetamine synthesizer I know of has waaayyy more selection of mates than someone who goes to the emergency room and says I was just cleaning my toilet with such and such.






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[*] posted on 27-4-2018 at 07:07


Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket  
I have gotten more than a whiff of NOx gases in the past accidentally. The fear of the "what if I inhaled too much" did cross my mind every time. A couple times I panicked but really, unless its great big lungfuls... I *personally* wouldn't worry that much.

Every time it has happened I just ventilated the area, went for a walk or went to do something to take my mind off of it and I was fine.

This isn't medical advice and of course, I would consult a doctor if things felt wrong. But to start calling the doctor because you experienced a whiff of the gas is, in my opinion, overkill and just more stressful to you than anything.

I agree.
I found a white plastic bottle that I didn't know what was inside. I opened it and fumes started to come out of it. It was nitric acid (I should've labeled it).
After the irritating smell I almost instantly closed my airways. That happened 2 times.
I panicked once because of this, but I'm okay now (and vigilant).

If I get sick, I'll just go to the doctor and tell him that I accidentally heated up a nitrating salt and try to make up his mind, but I doubt I will.

I have smelled NOx before, just a sniff.

[Edited on 27/4/18 by joseph6355]




Oh, hello! :)

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[*] posted on 28-4-2018 at 21:16


Although this thread is kind of ancient, I figured I'd throw in that I've occasionally thought I smelled nitric acid when walking around in Manhattan. Turns out, it's just truck exhaust though. But it's the same substance, and therefore the same smell, although a better-tuned engine with a properly-functioning catalytic converter would presumably minimize this.



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[*] posted on 12-5-2018 at 06:17


Quote: Originally posted by Melgar  
Although this thread is kind of ancient, I figured I'd throw in that I've occasionally thought I smelled nitric acid when walking around in Manhattan. Turns out, it's just truck exhaust though. But it's the same substance, and therefore the same smell, although a better-tuned engine with a properly-functioning catalytic converter would presumably minimize this.


fuck man replying to this ancient thread? you must have been as bored as i am presently reading it.

its a pretty funny thread really

the smell of NO2 always reminds me of alpine regions and snowboarding as in Australia many ski lifts are run on diesel.

This post i think is the single greatest contribution to SM since just before i hit 'post reply' until the next time any member hit that button.
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[*] posted on 13-5-2018 at 13:33


Trapping a poisonous gas? Suck back problems? Seems like a common complaint here.

I prefer to incorporate a goodly-sized, empty Erlenmeyer flask, intermediate, between my gas generating reaction, and my collector and/or toxic gas trap.

If pressure drops dramatically, and liquid is sucked backwards, it flows harmlessly into this intermediate flask. Used to be kind of a standard safeguard.

Sorry, but I can't seem to find a diagram anywhere.

Similar, but not perfect. https://www.google.com/search?q=chem+equipment+set+ups&c...

[Edited on 13-5-2018 by zed]

[Edited on 13-5-2018 by zed]
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[*] posted on 19-5-2018 at 13:39


Having read an article, ‘The Science of Mouth and Nose – How We Taste and Smell’ (link: https://www.dentalone-va.com/the-science-of-mouth-and-nose-h... ), I am little concerned on what we perceive as the objective reality of a particular smell. In particular it appears, per what I have read, that smell is a construct of the Mind (a chemical based computer) programmed from our evolutionary history to produce an interpretation of numerous chemical sensors.

As such, it is probably not too surprising that humans with varying damage/impediments/divergent evolutionary human history (like exposure to volcanic gases) impacting their chemical sensory receptors and brains, could describe smells and taste with a lack of precision or entirely differently. Furthermore, I would imagine if we ever were able to improve our communications with say, primates, their description of a particular smell may differ significantly from ours, owing to differences in the number of chemical sensors, evolutionary history and the computing capacity of the respective brains.

In the case of NO2, to assume that our chemical sensors are completely immune to the chemical reactivity of this active radical is, for me, problematic.

Bottom line if we can come to a collective consensus as to the precise smell of NO2, it may still have little basis in reality external to our particular species.

My internet search suggests that the NO2 has basically an acid smell. Comments include pungent or with a pungent bleach like smell, or acrid or just nasty.

[Edited on 19-5-2018 by AJKOER]
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[*] posted on 20-5-2018 at 12:27


In low concentrations I actually quite like the smell of NO2.



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[*] posted on 21-5-2018 at 10:26


Does oxidizing compounds smell similar to anyone else? For me chlorine, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and nitric acid all smell similar. Chlorine has a oxidizing smell but also smells somewhat like hydrochloric acid. Ozone has a strong "purely oxidizing" smell. Nitrogen dioxide has a smell that is mostly oxidizing similar but distinct to and from nitric acid.

And yes, nitrogen dioxide is quite pleasant.
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[*] posted on 21-5-2018 at 10:56


Kinda know what you're saying about an 'oxidising' smell, but would hesitate to confirm that - some things that are already oxidised have similar scent components, e.g. burnt phenolytic resins.

Personally i don't find many smells too unpleasant to take a whiff of.

Odd that no Language can accurately convey a scent.




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[*] posted on 21-5-2018 at 15:50


The "oxidizing smell" may just be the sensation of your olfactory receptors taking on oxidation damage.



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