Chemists?

JohnFP · Post by **JohnFP** » Mon May 03, 2004 12:34 pm

What happens when you put Ammonium Chloride hardener in fixer that already has Sulfuric acid and Alum?

I added hardener from the wrong bottle. It turned the fixer milky white and has a strong odor of Sulfur. I immediately bottled it back up. I should have looked first. What an elemetary mistake!

So what chemical reaction did I initiate?

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Mon May 03, 2004 4:50 pm

By strong odor of sulfur, you mean the "rotten egg" smell?
Dump (or at least vent outside) that bottle asap. Hydrogen sulfide accumulations can be very toxic, among other things. Also, the gas production may continue, and if it's a glass bottle it may burst, spreading smelly chemicals where you probably don't want them. I had to change out the air in my basement a while back because of something like that (industrial blower + 100 feet of 5" hose).
Regarding the reaction, it's probably too complex for my rudimentary chemistry knowledge, but what kind of Alum is in there? Amonnium alum, aluminum potassium sulphate, or chrome alum?

Dinesh · Post by **Dinesh** » Mon May 03, 2004 6:50 pm

You probably released pure sulphur, Ammonium Sulphate and lots of Sulphur Dioxide. The rotten egg smell is H2S, but it's pretty distinctive. The strong smell of sulpher probably means SO2. Don't worry, medieval monks used it to ward off Satan! Today, or at least a few years back, they sold "sulphur candles" that gave off SO2 as an insect repellant.

Michael Harrison · Post by **Michael Harrison** » Mon May 03, 2004 7:09 pm

...that gave off SO2 as an insect repellant

I'll bet that it got rid of the people too.

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Fred · Post by **Fred** » Mon May 03, 2004 9:26 pm

>What happens when you put Ammonium Chloride hardener in fixer that already has Sulfuric
>acid and Alum?
>I added hardener from the wrong bottle. It turned the fixer milky white and has a strong
>odor of Sulfur. I immediately bottled it back up. I should
>have looked first. What an elemetary mistake!
>
>So what chemical reaction did I initiate?

If you put NH4Cl into hot 50% H2SO4 you can generate HCl but I suppose
you added an acid to thiosulfate and this yields SO2 und sulfur.

JohnFP · Post by **JohnFP** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:06 am

Thanks all. I didn't take any chances, I drove the bottle to the local hazardous waste disposal drop off anyway!.