Extracting NaClO3

[budullewraagh]

Today I tried the following experiment:

 

20% HCl+NaOH+NaClO3(the latter 2 were in a solution of draino)

 

I distinctly remember it turning white and fizzing as the HCl was added. I also remember faintly smelling (i ran the other way after adding the HCl) a strange odor. Then I coughed a few times (nothing bad).

 

Was the gas produced Cl2?

Could somebody write out the reaction?

 

Personally, I think it's

HCl+NaOH->NaCl+H2O

Of course, I say this assuming the NaClO3 doesn't react.

[Tesseract]

What do you mean NaClO3 dosnt react?In my opinion I think you made NH 3.

[budullewraagh]

where's the N source?

[Tesseract]

Or is it NH 4 NO 3?

I should have studied chemistry more.

[Tesseract]

where's the N source?

 

Um draino, contains ammonia.he porbably made it out of that and battery acid.

[budullewraagh]

not the draino i used......i dont remember reading anything about NH3.

 

ingredients: NaClO3, NaOH, Na4O4Si, misc stuff that isn't NH3.

 

and no, i definately didn't make NH4NO3. sheesh.

 

also, where'd the whole battery acid thing come from?

[felinlasv]

Well the ammonia definitely has nothing to do with it because it's not in there and even if is was and you did form NH3 you'd have smelled it. I stick with what you said, adding a strong acid to a strong base will form salt and since the NaCLO3 is already a salt I don't think it will react in anyway. But then ofcourse, I could be wrong..

[budullewraagh]

yeah, that's the most sensible reaction.

my real question is the following: why was there an odd smelling gas?

was that just the HCl? (it's 25 year old muriatic acid used for cleaning marble. i quickly opened the container and added a small amount).

[YT2095]

What do you mean NaClO3 dosnt react?In my opinion I think you made NH 3.

 

Or is it NH 4 NO 3?

I should have studied chemistry more.

 

 

Um draino' date=' contains ammonia.he porbably made it out of that and battery acid.Today 02:19 AM

[/quote']

stay OUT of the Chemistry forums! I really mean it!!! >:S

[budullewraagh]

good call, yt.

 

but back to the question: was the smell caused by the HCl?

[YT2095]

the NaClO3 wouldn`t have reacted, but what likely happened was that while adding the HCl(aq) to the NaOH, you got some local heating that would have been suficient to liberate HCl gas. NaOH added to plain water will get hot, with an Acid it`ll get VERY hot!

[budullewraagh]

oh joy, nothing like good ol' HCl gas. the disturbing thing is that the decomposition of mustard gas in the body ultimately yields HCl, which performs many attacks.

 

funny story: 30 mins ago, i decided to test the pH of this 25 year old "muriatic acid". when i opened the container, it released a gas (HCl). i assume that this is because the solution had become saturated and some of the HCl had to be released since H2O was lost. needless to say, the pH was quite a bit < 1. it took quite a bit of NaHCO3 (the only base i had around that wouldn't react to form ClO2) to neutralize the acid.

 

so yeah, i have a totally saturated solution of HCl and HCl(g) is continuously taken out of solution. joy.

[YT2095]

LOL, HCl(g) isn`t actualy funny, but I can`t help myself

at least you had the presence of mind to neutralise it before harm, and actualy you picked the right agent to do it with (even if it was by accident).

 

here`s a tip I`ll share with you if you don`t have a fume cuboard, get 2 of the disposable dust masks, some ctton wool and a little paper stapler.

make a sheet layer of the cotton wool and cover it with your bicarb, then cover with another layer of cotton wool, it doesn`t have to be thick layers, just enough the stop the bicarb from falling through.

put this over mask number one and make sure it covers as much as possible, then put dust mask #2 over the top of it and staple around the edges.

wear this everytime you mess with any acids, hot or cold. it`ll afford you much protection

it`s not 100% perfect, but I`de give it a good 80% and it WILL save your lungs over a long period!

just make sure to make a new one every 4 hours of use, keep a log of when you put it on and when you take it off, when it gets to 4 hours total, throw it away and start again

[budullewraagh]

thanks, you may have just saved my life.

[YT2095]

what are friends for?

[jgerlica]

DrainO contains sodium chlorate?

[budullewraagh]

apparently the kind i have does

[jgerlica]

that's odd, sodium chlorate reacts with sulphur or compounds there of

[budullewraagh]

good thing is that sulfur compounds arent found in draino or drains (generally). that could be a problem, however, for those whose water supply contains higher concentrations of sulfur and sulfur compounds.

[jgerlica]

So, were you attempting to produce sodium chlorate?

[jgerlica]

the point is, would it really make sense to have an oxidizer such as the aforementioned in a household product?

[jgerlica]

OK. I took the time to look at an MSDS for drano. It contains sodium hypochlorite....NaOCl..... Bleach..... Totally different animal.

[budullewraagh]

oh, i thought it was sodium chlorate, not hypochlorate. i did this awhile back:\

[jgerlica]

so, were you attempting to extract NaClo3 as the topic implies? it's fairly easy to do.... you have 1/3 of what you need already.

[budullewraagh]

yeah, i was. i didn't know how concentrated the HCl i had was. that was a problem:\

yeah, i got the ClO2 gas from the reaction since my HCl was so concentrated (completely saturated).