61 lines
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61 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
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From: lewis@aera8700.mitre.org (Keith Lewis)
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Subject: Re: Seeking facts about N2O brain damage.
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Message-ID: <1993Jun23.172548.1186@linus.mitre.org>
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Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 17:25:48 GMT
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In article <1993Jun21.181707.4285@unislc.slc.unisys.com>, dale@unislc.slc.unisys.com (Dale Clark) writes:
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>CREATION PROCESS
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>----------------
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>Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) is most commonly made by the thermal
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>decomposition of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3). The chief impurity
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>of the product is N2, although, NO2, N, O2, and CO2 may also be present,
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>however, usually not in any quantity to approach toxcity. The resulting
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>mixture is passed through water for purification.
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You left out NO (nitric oxide), NH3 (ammonia), and H2O (water -- the other
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product of the *successful* reaction). _Laughing Gas_ also states that the
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temperature (optimum or self-regulating, I don't know) for the reaction is
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240 C. But they caution against trying it at home:
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Occaionally, following in the footsteps of Priestly and Davy,
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individuals attempt to synthesize N2O. This is definitely not
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recommended, for several reasons. First, the synthetic process
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frequently employed (heating ammonium nitrate) may lead to an explosion,
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and has been the cause of major accidents and numerous injuries in the
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industrial synthesis of N2O. Second, other oxides of nitrogen may be
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obtained as byproducts of the synthetic process. One of these, nitrogen
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diooxide, is extremely toxic, and can lead to rapid destruction of lung
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tissue, even if inhaled in small quantities.
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From what I read on rec.pyrotechnics, nitrogen dioxide lung damage is
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permanant and cumulative.
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_Laughing Gas_ also states that the boiling point of N2O is -88.44 C and
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that the partial pressure at 27.4 C is 60 atm (!). Does that mean those
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little whippits can withstand 60 atm??
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I tend to think the danger of explosion is low if you keep the pressure
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down. The "Dr. Atomic" cartoon instructions even go so far as to make it an
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open system -- the end is a plastic bag LOOSELY HELD over the last hose. The
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good doctor says that you should only synthesize it if you are a
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professional chemist working under controlled laboratory conditions, but in
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the picture there is a home setup using three flasks. The first one
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contains the NH4NO3 and is heated. The third is a "bong" type device which
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bubbles the gas through water. The second is a trap to prevent the "bong"
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water from reaching the heated flask under negative pressure.
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I wouldn't really worry about inhaling small quantities of ammonia, but I'd
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like to figure out a way to neutralize the NO and NO2. Would they react
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with baking soda (in the bubble flask)?
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The PYRO file from rec.pyrotechnics lists two sources of ammonium nitrate.
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One is fertilizer, the other is "instant cold packs". I wonder how pure
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it is...
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--Keith Lewis klewis@mitre.org "Mr. Cheap"
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I don't dance to music; music dances to me. Email me for my PGP key.
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The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.
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