accident (effects)

[andreas]

I was purrifing some ammoniumnitrate and when boiling down the solution I went away to grab a bite. When I came back most of my ammoniumnitrate had turned into thick clouds of smoke wich must have been N2O and whater vapor. I obviously shouldn't have left it unattended. My question is, do these fumes have any negative effects becouse I must have inhaled quite a bit when opening every window in my house.

[NoltaiR]

If it really its NO2, than by personal experience with inhaling amounts of it in the past, you will probably have a hell of a headache in a few hours or with enough of it I have seen people pass out.

[vulture]

Are you telling me you don't know which gas is being produced when ammoniumnitrate decomposes? This is pretty basic stuff and you shouldn't be fooling around with something if you don't know which reactions it will undergo and what it will produce.

NH4NO3 -> N2O + 2H2O

N2O is also referred to as laughing gas. It has a euphoric effect in small doses and a narcotic effect in high doses.

[spydamonkee]

i have had the same thing happen to me, but luckily all the smoke was restricted to the kitchen so i just held my breath as i rushed in and opened a few more windows.
did you find a fine powder spread thinly around the area where you were boiling down your AN?, like i could run my finger down the wall and over the top of the oven and their was lots of fine white powder that i think was AN recondensed from the smoke mayb?
good luck breaking up the rock hard slab of AN you will now have :D

[Kettch42mk.2]

If the reaction gets above about 240 degrees C (can't remember the exact number) NO2 is also produced. That's why it's not a good idea to decompose NH4NO3 to make your own laughing gas.

more info here:
<a href="http://www.erowid.org/archive/hyperreal/drugs/inhalants/n2o.synth" target="_blank">http://www.erowid.org/archive/hyperreal/drugs/inhalants/n2o.synth</a>

[Madog555]

yes, some NO2 will form too, but that can be easily disolved in water, makeing the product "safe". its easier to get whipits if u realy wana do nitrous.

i have only had it once, at the dentists, it was pretty fun

[andreas]

I knew that the decomp. products were N2O and water but becouse my "smoke"was so thick I was thinking of more byproducts from side reactions. But I think it was very fine an particles becouse I had a powdery layer around my "coocking" site.A well I'm still breathing so it couldn't have been that toxic.