Dangers making nitric acid?

[Agent911]

I was outside and I mixed sodium nitrate into boiling water. I poured a small amount of sulfuric acid into it and it make a big white cloud. Now it was a very windy day, and the cloud never got in my face, but I did smell an odor. I should have held my breath :/ Next time I'm going to do some kinda remote system or pour the sulfuric acid down a tube...something, anything to keep away. Do you think I'll be okay?

 

[micronationcreation]

:shock: You should NEVER add acid to a hot solution.

 

[Agent911]

I let it cool below a boil but ya it was very hot

 

[Harold_V]

I let it cool below a boil but ya it was very hot

When sulfuric is added to water, there's a huge amount of heat evolved. Even if you start with cold water, it's not beyond reason that you can achieve a boiling temperature. It is for that reasn you never add water to the acid---which can instantly turn to steam and blow the acid back in your face.

Make it a policy to NEVER add sulfuric acid to a hot solution. Your eyes can't be replaced.

Harold

 

[jaythenutz]

Wow be careful H2SO4 is powerful stuff. I hope you were wearing goggles, gloves and masks. I have made it a practice to always no mater what i have multiple sets hanging in easy to get to places. just to check my self. Accident are never planned they can be sneaky little son of a guns. i have had hot stuff slash out and hit my shield. I am not ragging on you or just say be careful man. even just getting a whiff yeah u don't drop dead on the spot but this stuff can catch you later. you wake up one day all like hey cancer were did u come from. its good too share these thing there excellent what not to do s. to emphasize what Harold had said how beautiful and shinny is that gold if you cant see it. even more so my family. Be careful people!!!!
~*~jay~*~

 

[Agent911]

Yea thanks guys. First, I am somewhat relived after watching some videos and reading comments. Someone wrote "normal to smell a little chlorine" (That's what I smelled, like chlorine and ammonia, I think) Even a whiff of chlorine during this process is unacceptable. It is dangerous and even though I might not get sick in 3 days, I'm sure there's some long term effect, especially with repeated exposure. I do this again I'm going to get a very long and flexible plastic tube (like a siphoning tube) and pour very slowly from far away. I'm still saying my prayers though...haha. Oh ya I have goggles and gloves but no mask. If anyone is reading this while planning on making homemade nitric acid: do pour that sulfuric acid VERY slowly! It makes a big plum if you go too fast! Luckly for me me there was a wind of about 25mph! Even that didn't sweep it away like you'd think.

 

[Harold_V]

Chlorine does extensive damage to lung tissue. Be damned careful.

Harold

 

[Geo]

i just posted the way i make my nitric acid.if you mix your nitrate and sulfuric together at ambient temps there should be little to no reaction.as the sulfuric comes to a boil it releases nitrogen dioxide i believe which must be condensed to make nitric acid.there are other methods but they produce a very weak acid and aren't very cost effective.as long as you wear protective gear and follow good directions you should be able to make a tech grade acid with little problem.one method is to make a reaction chamber out of any bottle as heat wont be an issue.you'll need a stopper with a glass nipple,a couple feet of rubber hose,a piece of glass tube the same size as the glass nipple and long enough to reach the bottom of the cylinder with an inch to spare and a graduated cylinder.reagents are several ounces of copper,some nitrate such as sodium nitrate,HCl 32%, some H2O2 and 4 ounces of water.put 4 ounces H2O2 in the cylinder(an ice bath will give more acid)put glass tube in cylinder and attach rubber tube then attach tube to glass nipple in stopper.place a few ounces of copper in chamber then add 4 ounces nitrate and water.reaction will start as soon as you add HCI but it will be slow.add 4 ounces of HCI and put stopper in.you will be making nitric acid as soon as bubbles start appearing.

 

[butcher]

Rubber is not good to use for nitric, it dissolves in HNO3, sulfuric is better to use for the acid, it will not contribute chlorine or chlorides to your product, and has a much higher vapor point, and contributes less water to the final product.

copper is very effective for breaking down nitric acid, creating NO, NO2 (NOx) fumes, the Nitrogen oxide needs air or oxygen to convert to NO2 nitrogen dioxide, then NO2 bubbled into water will form HNO3, but here you will have a weak solution as you have added alot of water in your reagents, and the water needed in reciever, you can concentrate it up to azeotrope by evaporating the water as long as you do not get it too high of a temperature in the process.

yes it will work , but there are better ways to do this.

 

[Geo]

if done correctly the rubber should never touch the acid.ive made nitric acid in this manner before and it is very weak.i used it mainly as a test reagent.i have found that rubber can be used in the hose but not the stopper as liquid nitric acid will condense on the inside of the chamber.trial and error showed me that nitric acid will make rubber decompose very quickly and sometimes violently.when i was younger(and i should say dumber) i would make weak explosives with cellophane and nitric acid.i guess im lucky to still be here

 

[Militoy]

...when i was younger(and i should say dumber) i would make weak explosives with cellophane and nitric acid.i guess im lucky to still be here

Never tried making nitrocellulose - but we used H*****'s formula book to make Rend-rock blasting powder, as well as the more common mix of diesel and oxidizer for hard-rock mining. Really sped up access to "middle earth". I wouldn't even dream of mixing up some of the stuff we messed with 30 years ago.

 

[The Rev Paul Whicker]

Can anyone help me with this

http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/docservicepdf_pct/id00000007374880?download

It is the patent of a new process that claims to be able to extract Ni from laterite using HN03,the company claim that this new tech. is going to revolutionise the nickel mining industral.

http://www.directnickel.com/