[sharbeldam]

** I'm only asking this in theory to know, not for a lab or anything, i do NOT own ammonia **

Can liquid ammonia release NH3 gas and hence risk everyone being around it in the room? or is it only risky when you actually sniff/inhale it (your nose close to it?)
I know NH3 gas is very dangerous, but when it dissolves in water and chemists have it in the lab, do they still wear masks around it ? even when they are relatively far?

Thanks a lot!

[Borek]

Can liquid ammonia release NH3 gas and hence risk everyone being around it in the room?

What do you call "liquid ammonia"? Solution, or liquid gas?

But in both cases the answer is "yes, the ammonia will be released".

As long as it is used under fume hood it is reasonably safe, no need for gas masks.

[sharbeldam]

An honor to receive answer from you!!
I feel dumber now, what is liquid gas? I meant like how they dissolve the ammonia in water to get a basic solution, but Im curious to hear about the liquid gas if you dont mind.

Also, im curious to know if i had NH3(g) in water , you said it does release ammonia gas which is very dangerous, so if it wasnt in a fume hood, it can lead to serious risk? or is the release very small? thanks.

[Orcio_87]

@sharbeldam

Liquid ammonia boils at -33 C, so yes - it will start boiling (evaporating) in temperature above.

As of the water-ammonia solution, solubility of the gases decreases with temperature, so it will release ammonia when heated.

[sharbeldam]

so to sum up, in **room temperature/lab temp is usually 15-25**, " liquid ammonia " should be gas so obvisouly that is risky, but why do they call it liquid gas?

and ammonia in water (solution) should not be that risky in room temperature because the temp is low?

[Borek]

what is liquid gas?

Every gas can be liquified, every liquid can be boiled of and become a gas (unless it decomposes below its boiling point).

Sorry to be blunt, but how can you tutor chemistry when you don't know the basics?

[sharbeldam]

Its fine, i was just wondering , why not call it gas?  i just never used the term " liquid gas " that's all.
i'd appreciate to verify that my sum up was ok because i really am interested to know

[Corribus]

At room temperature, pure ammonia is a gas. BUt since pure ammonia has boiling point reasonably close to room temperature, it doesn't take much compression to liquefy it. At room temperature, the condensation pressure looks to be ~7.5 bar, so say approximately 7.5 atmospheres. As you can imagine, pressure of ammonia inside a standard cylinder is quite a bit higher. So although we call it a "gas cylinder", the ammonia gas is actually liquefied by the pressure. Of course, it's usually dispensed at a much lower pressure, so it may come out of the tank as a gas.

You might google "phase diagram of ammonia" and you will see what I mean.

It doesn't help that in common parlance, ammonia dissolved in water is often called "liquid ammonia" or just "ammonia".

[sharbeldam]

Thank you Corribus, all clear now, except my last inquiry, just to be assured, when we are talking about ammonia in solution (ammonia dissolved in water), the gas released from the solution is enough to be risky in room temp? like let's say im in the lab and someone came in with an open flask of ammonia solution in room temperature (not heated), is it risky or the gas released from it is very little?

[Corribus]

Things aren't risky or not risky in absolute terms. Is being around a dilute aqueous ammonia solution less hazardous than inhaling from an leaking tank of pure ammonia gas? Yeah, in most cases that's a fair statement. People use dilute ammonia cleaning solutions at home every day, after all. But you can also easily kill yourself if you mix dilute aqueous ammonia with commercial bleach in your own home, so... you shouldn't be careless with any chemical.