Bleach

[vrus]

Can anyone tell me what is the white salt obtained after boiling household bleach like Chlorox ? Is it Potassium Chlorate ? What is the gas given off ? Note that I got it after boiling all of the liquid off !!!

[BenSon]

NaOCl thats sodium hypochlorite... Gas eh? well that would be either oxygen or chlorine.

I would guess oxygen 2NaOCl = 2NaCl + O2. If its yellow and gives you pneumonia then its chlorine not oxygen.

 

~Scott

[Aspirin]

NaOCl thats sodium hypochlorite

~Scott

 

I always thought Sodium hypochlorite was NaHClO......can anyone confirm if this is right or wrong

 

 

Vrus: The salt obtained is a mixture of NaCl and NaClO3

To obtain KClO3 from bleech you need a K ion donor such as KCL which will substitute the Na ion in NaClO3 with the K ion to yield KClO3

 

hope that answered your question

[jdurg]

Bleach is a solution of sodium hypochlorite which has a formula of NaOCl. (HOCl is hypochlorus acid. NaHClO does not exist). At elevated temperatures, however, NaOCl will decompose into NaCl and NaClO3 (3NaOCl -> 2NaCl + NaClO3). So when you boiled your bleach solution, you probably converted some of that hypohclorite into the chlorate and chloride. Your white salt you have is most likely a mixture of NaCl, NaOCl, and NaClO3.

[budullewraagh]

i have to disagree. when i make chlorine gas, i boil bleach. the first salt to precipitate is the Ca(OCl)2. upon further distillation i was left with reasonably pure hypochlorite.

[Tetrahedrite]

i have to disagree. when i make chlorine gas, i boil bleach. the first salt to precipitate is the Ca(OCl)2. upon further distillation i was left with reasonably pure hypochlorite.

And I will disagree with you..... most bleach brands that I know of contain sodium salts, not calcium. Calcium forms pptes with too many things found in natural waters to be used as a counter ion.

[budullewraagh]

and my particular bleach brand definitely has calcium hypochlorite in it, that i am positive of

[jdurg]

Ca(OCl)2 is also much more stable than sodium hypochlorite. Do a quick and easy google search. You will quickly find that upon heating sodium hypochlorite decomposes into sodium chloride and sodium chlorate. It basically oxidizes itself. This is not rocket science here, so I stand by my statement 100%.

[Tetrahedrite]

and my particular bleach brand definitely has calcium hypochlorite in it, that i am positive of

Must be different in the US. We study various bleach brands (at least five of them) as a part of the 1st year undergraduate chemistry course. Not one of them contains calcium in any way. The US musn't have as big a problem with hard water as we do here.

[jdurg]

All the bleach I've seen/used has been sodium hypochlorite. The only 'bleaches' I've seen that use calcium hypochlorite have been for treating pools and spas.

[Invader_Gir]

How can you separate the NaClO3 from the NaCl? Is one more soluble than the other? Thanks

[budullewraagh]

yeah, fractional crystallization-->NaCl

[vrus]

What use is Sodium Hypochlorite ?

[woelen]

There are three types of bleach:

 

1) Plain household bleach, which contains an alkaline solution of sodium hypochlorite, often also containing quite some sodium chloride.

2) Bleach powder, which is CaCl(OCl), half hypochlorite, half chloride. This is made by leading chlorine gas through a suspension of calcium hydroxide.

3) Swimming pool bleach, which is almost pure Ca(ClO)2.2H2O.

 

Bleach type (1) always is liquid, the other two forms are more stable in the solid form.

 

When you heat bleach of type (1), then it mostly decomposes, giving oxygen and NaCl. Indeed, there also is some disproportionation to chloride and chlorate. When it is boiled, then the decomposition to chloride and oxygen is favored, when it is heated to appr. 70C for a longer time, then the disproportionation is favored.

 

I've never seen a liquid bleach, containing Ca(ClO)2. Of course, this is possible, but I doubt whether this makes any sense, because Ca(ClO)2 is much more stable on storage in the solid state and there is no benefit of having this dissolved over having dissolved NaClO (in fact, even less favorable, because the calcium would give all kinds of undesirable precipitates with many domestic water sources). NaClO is much less stable in the solid state, but solutions of NaClO are equally stable as solutions of Ca(ClO)2.

[budullewraagh]

just a note, NaOCl forms NaClO2, NaClO3 and NaClO4+varying amounts of NaCl depending on how you treat it. the chlorite, of course is very unstable and so kinetically speaking, the chlorate is favored. thermodynamically speaking, the perchlorate is favored.

 

solid NaOCl is very, very unstable and will explode violently

[YT2095]

LOL, I rem a time when you could actualy Buy Ca(ClO)2.2H2O "Bleaching powder" or sometimes called calcium oxychloride to add to your clothes washing powder, from the chemists and some supermarkets

[jdurg]

You can still buy it. Go to a pool supply store and you can get it by the kilogram quantity. Stuff is dirt cheap but great for making chlorine gas with it.