[Ryder S]

Ha all...

By way of humility, I want to share with all a tale of stupidity.

Today, I tried my first synthesis of nitric acid... A serious acid.

I left it to distill for a bit... Potassium nitrate and pure sulfuric acid on heat...

After a couple minutes, I decided my condenser was not doing the job, and thought I'd just remove the heat, maybe cool the water more in the jacket.  Try again another time.

Regardless, I stopped, and when things were cool enough a few minutes later I took my apparatus apart and went to discard the failed experiment.  I made maybe three drops of nitric acid.

HOWEVER, I made nitrogen dioxide in throughout the apparatus. The boiling flask was still warm enough that it might have been making a little even still.

When taking it apart, the brown nitrogen dioxide became quite noticeable in the immediate area.  I know some went into my lungs... Not a lot... But some.

I know the gases are bad... But how bad, exactly?

Having just inhaled some accidentally made me realize... I had NO way to know just how much I took in.

I was in no distress... It certainly irritated me a little, but I coughed and left the area for a bit...

The gas was vented by then.

So, crap... I thought I'd better look and see... what is a harmful dose? What symptoms?

I can't possibly know how much I got in... in PPM.  And all of the literature talks about it in those kind of terms...

So here is where it gets MESSED UP fellas.

Nitrogen Dioxide often has NO symptoms for many hours.  So I don't, *think* I got much.  And I have No symptoms.

But 30 hours from now, my lungs might just decide they have been damaged enough to start filling with water.... A condition called edema...

No cure.  If its bad enough, you die.

So... Even if I walk away from this scott free... My exposure being slight... I can't KNOW if it was slight... And hours from now I could find myself in some serious trouble.  I just don't know.

My penalty, at a minimum, is being worried for at least 24 hours while I wait and see.

Now, keep in mind, I did go to the emergency room... In fact I'm here now...

They think I'm cool... Good to go... But again... I have a full day to wait before I'm sure.

So... Keep on doing your lab stuff, fellas... There is risk.  Be smart... Smarter than I was today... And study your reactions and byproducts... Not just so you know what ther are.... But KNOW what the toxicity is... Side effects, routes of exposure.

If I knew the DETAILS of nitrogen dioxide... I would have shut off the heat, left the lab for an hour, and wearing suitable respiratory gear, re-entered and broken down my apparatus.

I'm not going to be happy at all for a full day.

I deserve at least that.

Hopefully that's all that I suffer.

Work safe.

R

[vmelkon]

How could you not know about NO2? Nitric acid has always been produced industrially by adding NO2 to water. If that reaction happens in your lungs, obviously, it is going to be bad.
It is also a contributor of acid rain.

You can estimate the concentration as ppm with some rough calculations.
Treating air and NO2 as ideal gases (same number of molecules per volume).

Assume you had 100 mL of NO2 in your equipment.
Estimate your room size
6 m x 7 m x 3 m = 1.26e8 mL
100 mL / 1.26e8 mL = 8e-7
which means 0.8 ppm (when you have even mixing)

[curiouscat]

I was in no distress... It certainly irritated me a little, but I coughed and left the area for a bit...

Better safe than sorry, so glad you got yourself checked out. Lessen learnt.

OTOH, reading your description (and based on stuff I've seen), my money is on that you'll do fine. No lasting harm. Just my hunch.

[408]

Just checking in, you ok?

I had many mishaps as a teenager with runaway nitrations, and a LITTLE NO2 is pretty harmless but will give symptoms for a few days.  Large amounts, however, are very toxic.