Does bubbling 'Auto Grade Nitrous' through baking soda remove the impurities?

grade Nitrous Oxide is identical to medical grade nitrous oxide (laughing gas), save one point: automotive grade Nitrous Oxide contains sulfur dioxide, about 100ppm." - (http://www.1300cc.com/howto/how2/NOS.htm)

$5/lb sounds like a really good price to buy it at...

As opposed to $1 a whippet=\

http://www.resort.com/~banshee/Info/N2O/nitrous.purification.html

^Will this work? Or is it fit for the totse text files=p

If by wippet you mean wip cream then i think there is an alternative, im pretty sure that the things used in bb guns, the things that look like little mini air tanks have nitrous in them and u can get something to crack it open with and then you release the air into a balloon and you can take like 3 or 4 hits of it before its done.

Yes a scrubber system using sodium carbonate and bicarbonate will work, you should have a very fine dispersal of bubbles like an aquarium bubbler at the bottom an open tube will not work well. Your column must be fairly high to be sure you get it all out.

So, you bubble the Auto Grade Nitrous through a tank of dissolved baking soda(NaHCO3) or lye (NaOH) to remove the Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)?

->How long of a tube would you need to filter out all of the sulfur dioxide if the Nitrous is being fed into the solution by a fish tank bubbler?

->What damage can Sulfur Dioxide cause to you if you don't manage to filter it out or skip the filtering altogether?

->What is the reaction thats getting rid of the Sulfur Dioxide?

I've only done whip cream cans of nitrous before. Whats a common place to get the whippets of Nitrous and Crackers? A food supply store or ?

Yep, The sulfur dioxide will hydrolyze into Sulfurous Acid, which than is neutralized by any bases present.

For height of column More would be better, just to ensure its all reacted, but ya can play with that.

And if ya don't remove the SO2(g) it will cause tissue damage due to hydrolization into sulfurous acid, and will also displace air in the lungs causing suffocation. If memory serves me right, look up an MSDS sheet on google for more info on sulfur dioxide

www.marsulex.com/PDF_MLX/MSDS/LiquidSulfurDioxide.msds.pdf (http://www.marsulex.com/PDF_MLX/MSDS/LiquidSulfurDioxide.msds.pdf) -

Vapors are extremely irritating to throat, mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract. Short exposures toconcentrations as low a 1 ppm may produce a reversible decrease in lung function. Concentrations as low as 5 ppm haveproduced constriction of the bronchiole tubes. Severe overexposure may result in pulmonary edema, permanent lung injuryor death. The effects of pulmonary edema which include coughing and shortness of breath may be delayed for hours ordays after exposure.

Appearance and Odor: Colorless gas or liquid with a strong pungent odor

Odor Threshold: 0.5 ppm

(YAY! I can C&P from a MSDS!)

Thanks a lot for the info=)

So the SO2(g) (sulfurous acid) is gonna dissolve in water and form H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) and react with baking soda (NaHCO3) or lye (NaOH) to do an oxidation-reduction reaction (acid + base)

so

SO2(g)+H2O(l) => H2S04(aq) + H2O(l)

H2SO4(aq) + NaOH(aq) => H2O(l) + SO4Na2(s? or aq?)

I guess... and you're left with happy gas: N2O

I hope my chemistry is still sharp... it's fun... chemistry, that is.

oh yeah, and if you inhale the SO2(g) the chemistry is that it dissolves in the liquid in your lungs/throat and makes sulfuric acid (H2SO4) -> which will corrode your delicate tissues and fuck you up.

[This message has been edited by BorisB73 (edited 12-02-2003).]

It forms sulphuROUS acid in your lungs and throat, but that does the same thing.

quote:Originally posted by DimLiquiD:

If by wippet you mean wip cream then i think there is an alternative, im pretty sure that the things used in bb guns, the things that look like little mini air tanks have nitrous in them and u can get something to crack it open with and then you release the air into a balloon and you can take like 3 or 4 hits of it before its done.

You're trying to get a man to huff CO2? very nice of you fag.

Hey boris, So ya know the actually reactions that'll happen will probably happen along the following lines a little more likely than yours.

SO2(g)[Sulphur Dioxide] + H20(l) -> H2SO3(aq) [Sulfurous Acid]

Then Either

H2SO3(aq) + 2NaOH(aq or S) -> Na2SO3(aq) + 2H2O(l)

if Caustic Soda, or another Metallic Hydroxide is added or,

H2SO3(aq) + 2NaHCO3(aq or s) -> Na2SO3(aq) + 2H2CO3(aq)

If baking Powder was added (baking soda is Na2CO3 If memory serves me right)

and the H2CO3 may leave solution through a dehydration reaction, but I'm not sure on how likely this would be

H2CO3(aq) -> CO2(g) + H2O(l)

No, Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3). So it won't create carbonic acid (H2CO3) which can then turn into H2O and CO2 (comes out as gas, like in your soda pop).

But, what I'm wondering is will the Na2SO4 (H2SO4 is sulfuric acid, which I'm guessing is what will form when SO2 comes in contact with water...) precipitate? eg. come out as a solid?

Just messing with chemistry at this point.

Oh, one more thing. Are you sure that SO2 gas is the only addative in automotive nitrous? can anyone check that? because if it is the only thing, this process is pretty sure-fire for purifying it, however, if it isn't, improvements need to be made.

I was assuming it was:

SO2(aq) + H2O -> H2SO3

H2SO3 + 2NaHCO3 -> Na2SO3 + 2HCO3

If this were true, no precipitates would form.

I am not sure if there are any additives.

thats almost correct Rattof

only that the Sulfurous Acid would react w/ Sodium Bicarbonate to Sodium Sulfate(Na2SO3) and Carbonic Acid H2CO3, not 2HCO3-.

Boris Baking soda will create Carbonic Acid in acidic solutions such as this one, which will in turn decompose into CO2(g) and H2O(l); As will Baking powder in acidic enviroments. Baking powder and Baking soda are simply related chemicals which the creation of which are favoured depending on the pH of the solution eg.

Na2CO3 <-> NaHCO3 <-> H2CO3(->H2O+CO2)

Basic Neutral Acidic

Which is useful as different mixtures of Baking Soda and Powder can be used to form buffers at different pH's depending on the original solution and the amounts of the chemicals added

My mistake there:

SO2 + H2O => H2SO3 (sulfurous acid)

so sulfuric acid wont be made?

And, Baking soda usually makes carbonic acid (H2CO3) when reacting with acids?

Yes, Baking soda NaHCO3 can act both as an Acid or as a Base. In the presence of strongly dissociated acids (eg. high [h3o+]) it will accept the proton and become H2CO3, whilst in basic solutions (low [h3o+]) it will act as the proton donor and become NaCO3 or more generically MCO3 or N2CO3 where m is any metal ion with a +2 charge and N is any metal ion with a +1 charge

A nice easy test to prove that is simply to mix baking soda or powder with vinegar or another household acid. in a sealed container you will see an increase in pressure of the system as CO2(g) is released

or in the typical science project form, the volcano "flows" out in the bubbly mixture

edit - spelling

[This message has been edited by Random_Fool (edited 12-04-2003).]

it is actually cheaper and a lot easier to just buy the NO2 from a gas company instead of automotive grade. around here you can get a 60lb tank filled for around $90. swia and a couple of his friends used to drive to a very cool gas company about 20 minutes from here and get there 60lb tank filled every other weekend. if you dont want to do that NO2 is very easy to make i hear

Yes, NO2 is much easier to make and acquire I'm sure... However, it, along with it's brother NO are (to the best of my knowledge) brown, poisonous gasses sometimes identified with air pollution.

N2O is not as simple to make as NO2 - for NO2, all that is required is the compression of Nitrogen and Oxygen and the reaction occurs that makes NO and NO2 gasses.

But, we're talking about N2O here... laughing gas - it's lotsa fun!!! whee!!!