Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [bil l n] at [hpcvaac.cv.hp.com] (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Nitrous tank results
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1993 05:56:40 GMT
[an 4936] at [anon.penet.fi] (Minstrel of Mischief) writes:
:
: _Laughing Gas: Nitrous Oxide_ shows a setup for making N2O from NH4NO3 with
: three flasks. The first, which is heated to 240 C, contains the ammonium
: nitrate. The second is just a water trap. The third is a flask for
: bubbling the gas through water. It has been suggested that you could add
: more of these. And adding baking soda to the water would certainly not
: hinder the removal of the small quantities of caustic gasses produced in the
: reaction.
:
: The main reaction is
: NH4NO3 --> N2O + 2(H2O)
:
: -- Minstrel
This is only partially correct - and could cause people to die if they
followed it.
The following information belongs in the FAQ - if it is not already there.
There are many routes of decomposition of AN - they depend on temperature
and pressure of the reaction.
At just above the melting point of AN (169.9 deg C for the pure product)
the reaction is:
NH4NO3 -> HNO3 + NH3 I doubt if you want to be breathing either
nitric acid or ammonia. The ammonia would
be almost totally absorbed by the water
traps, but the HNO3 may not be. I suspect
that is why the procedure has bicarbonate
to hopefully neutralize the acid.
At about 180 - 200 deg C, unconfined, the reaction is:
NH4NO3 -> N2O + H2O This is the desired product.
At 230 - 285 deg C other oxides are formed, such as NO and NO2 - again, two
substances which you would not enjoy breathing.
Other possibilities, conditions not given, are:
4 NH4NO3 -> 2 NO2 + 8 H2O + 3 N2
4 NH4NO3 -> 3 NO2 + 5 H2O + N2 + 2 NH3 + NO This reaction is endothermic.
If the gases are heated, they explode.
I will skip the decompositions that take place under strong confinement, or
when the material is detonated.
Bill