Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [bil l n] at [hpcvaac.cv.hp.com] (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Nitrous tank results
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1993 05:56:40 GMT

[an 4936] at [anon.penet.fi] (Minstrel of Mischief) writes:
: 
: _Laughing Gas: Nitrous Oxide_ shows a setup for making N2O from NH4NO3 with
: three flasks.  The first, which is heated to 240 C, contains the ammonium
: nitrate.  The second is just a water trap.  The third is a flask for
: bubbling the gas through water.  It has been suggested that you could add
: more of these.  And adding baking soda to the water would certainly not
: hinder the removal of the small quantities of caustic gasses produced in the
: reaction.
: 
: The main reaction is 
:      NH4NO3 --> N2O + 2(H2O)
: 
:                             -- Minstrel

This is only partially correct - and could cause people to die if they
followed it.

The following information belongs in the FAQ - if it is not already there.

There are many routes of decomposition of AN - they depend on temperature
and pressure of the reaction.

At just above the melting point of AN (169.9 deg C for the pure product)
the reaction is:

NH4NO3 -> HNO3 + NH3            I doubt if you want to be breathing either
                                nitric acid or ammonia. The ammonia would
                                be almost totally absorbed by the water
                                traps, but the HNO3 may not be.  I suspect
                                that is why the procedure has bicarbonate
                                to hopefully neutralize the acid.

At about 180 - 200 deg C, unconfined, the reaction is:

NH4NO3 -> N2O + H2O             This is the desired product.

At 230 - 285 deg C  other oxides are formed, such as NO and NO2 - again, two
substances which you would not enjoy breathing.

Other possibilities, conditions not given, are:

4 NH4NO3 -> 2 NO2 + 8 H2O + 3 N2

4 NH4NO3 -> 3 NO2 + 5 H2O + N2 + 2 NH3 + NO     This reaction is endothermic.
If the gases are heated, they explode.

I will skip the decompositions that take place under strong confinement, or
when the material is detonated.

Bill