Yeah im 15 in Chem H. I went after school to fool around and i came up with this NaClO3 + H2SO4 --> ? I know its a redox and it produces some sort of Cl2 gas. Could it be like chlorine dioxide. But how would u balance it? All help would be appreciated.

you just went in after school and played around with chems??????????????/ are you mad??? chlorine dioxide is not only extremely toxic but it explodes when exposed to light. dont ever make it. ever. you end up with a bunch of products from that reaction depending on concentrations. give me a little more info

Yes i am madd. I like making things go boom. Umm i was using 18 molar H2SO4 which is pure. Im not sure about the other stuff. When I added the H2SO4 to the NaClO3 it turned a brownish red? Could that be the sulfate... and i know some kind of Cl2 was produced because i smelt it and allmost passed out lol.

did it smell like rotten eggs by any chance?

 

depending on the concentrations, you could have had a bunch of dangerous gases, among them Cl2O, ClO, ClO2, SO2, H2S, SOCl2, and Cl2 to name just a few.

 

can you tell me any specifics on the gas?

"and i know some kind of Cl2 was produced because i smelt it and allmost passed out lol."

 

Uhhuh. Don't sniff it too much. Chlorine gas is some sick stuff. Perhaps you should add "I hope I'll be able to leave H.S. with intact lungs" to your sig.

"did it smell like rotten eggs by any chance?"

 

No it didnt smell like rotten eggs.. It smelt like Cl2... i was just trying different equations and see what worked.. could 2NaClO3 + H2SO4 -> H2O + Cl2 + NaSO4 + 5/2 O2?? this looks like a possiblity and i could prob use Cobalt Chloride strips to test for water to verify the reaction..

ive never had a problem with chlorine gas tho. quite frankly i dont think much of your chlorine reduced from +5 to 0, but rather i think you got a bunch of it reduced to +1 and a little reduced to +3

ok but i think i finally figured it out from what u said... u said about chlorine dioxide exploding so i though decomp... however it dosent explode it just decomps into Cl2 and oxygen. the reddish gas that i saw was coming from a liquid and i beleive that the liquid is chlorine dioxide and the gas is the cl2 and oxygen.

Hi, i'm Nave's partner in chem, i looked it up and it seems it does make ClO2, the visable reaction is whrn the acid is dripped onto the NaClO3 powder it turns into a viscous red-brown liquid and bubbles, it in non exothermic. The Merck Index says ClO2 can be found as a red-brown liquid. Also it says it is unstable in light and will break down, into Cl2 and O2 forming the Chlorine gas we saw, however we still have not figured out the other products NaClO3 + H2SO4 --> ClO2 + ? we tested for water and it was not present

chlorine dioxide is incredibly unstable though...it explodes in light

 

your other gaseous products probably include sulfur dioxide and a little Cl2O

yea its highly unstable!! but it dosent explode to the best of my knowledge and Merck Indexs. They say its highly unstable but that means it can just decomp.

^And what do we call it when a substance rapidly decomposes into gases which expand outward?

well it dosent explode ill tell u that much... when i made it i guess i dont have enough of it or something but Merck Indexs it just decomps into Cl2 and oxygen... im still here and i did this in light and no explosion happened. and the gases didnt rapidly expand outward cuz if they did i dobut id be talking now

"Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is a synthetic yellowish-green gas with chlorine like odor. ClO2 is unstable as a gas and will undergo decomposition into chlorine gas (Cl2), oxygen gas (O2) and heat. However, ClO2 is stable and soluble in an aqueous solution." Now are we talking about a gas or aqueous solution cuz i had it in a aqueous solution.But then would the aqueous solution still let of the same gases?

i have been researching this compound and sources are conflicting one another, some say it breaks down to a chlorite or chlorate, others chlorine and oxygen, also some say it can be a liquid, others only a gas, some say explosive, some merely say it breaks down. Can anyone give me a DIFFINITIVE list of properties

lets just start a thread on this Chlorine dioxide

on second thought, there is another possibility. depending on the concentration of that sulfuric acid, you could have produced chlorine heptoxide, a volatile yellow oily liquid and most stable of the chlorine oxides

I hope that you are performing your experiments under a fume hood and under the supervision of an experienced lab supervisor. Chemistry, although an experimental science, isn't a "hit & miss" science. I don't just walk into a lab and start playing. I need to have objectives, reagent tables, safety information, possible minor reactions/products, etc, etc, all thought out before I walk into the lab.

yeah, we went over that:\

I hope that you are performing your experiments under a fume hood and under the supervision of an experienced lab supervisor. Chemistry, although an experimental science, isn't a "hit & miss" science. I don't just walk into a lab and start playing. I need to have objectives, reagent tables, safety information, possible minor reactions/products, etc, etc, all thought out before I walk into the lab.

 

I doubt they did . You guys must have a pretty trusting school if they leave doors unlocked, without teachers inside. My school would never do that. And playing with chemicals. tsk, tsk. You should know better.

actually he said his teacher knew he was playing with chems...

oh... then there teacher isn't very intelligent.

yeah, that's what i'd gather. the more i think of it the more i think they made chlorine heptoxide

"yeah, that's what i'd gather. the more i think of it the more i think they made chlorine heptoxide"

 

But isn't it rather colorless?

But isn't it rather colorless?

 

not if there are impurities (a little ClO2 for example) present