The Dangers of Mixing Bleach and Ammonia
Created | Updated Aug 29, 2002
Often times, one looks at a bottle of bleach and wonders, "Why shouldn't I mix this with ammonia?" If you know how dangerous chlorine gas is to human beings (It was used as a chemical weapon during World War I, and again later by Nazi Germany in World War II), it will soon become very apparent. The following three sections will tell of a few reactions that can occur when bleach and ammonia are mixed in the proper amounts. The release of chlorine gas is just one of these. In the following sections, the header will be the name of the most dangerous compound involved in the reaction shown. Please, do NOT try any of this at home.
CHLORINE GAS (Cl2)
That warning is there to protect you. Bleach has a chemical formula of NaOCl, that is, one atom each of sodium, oxygen, and chlorine. Its chemical name, for the curious, is sodium hypochlorite. Ammonia has a chemical formula of NH3, that is, one atom of nitrogen and 3 atoms of hydrogen. When these two compounds are combined, it takes place in an equation similar to this one:
2(parts)NaOCl + 2(parts)NH3 --> 2(parts)NaONH3 + Cl2.
Do you see that Cl2 on the side there? This means one part of chlorine gas, made up of diatomic (two atom) particles. It also means that the chlorine gas has BEEN LIBERATED from the bleach, and is quite capable of causing you harm when inhaled!
The Pain, the Pain!
To understand the affects chlorine gas has on the body, we need to first understand the chemical properties of chlorine. Particularly its valence, or number of chemical bonds chlorine can form. Chlorine is in the 7th group of the A type elements (A type elements are all those except for the Transition Metals, the columns between the column headed by lithium and the column headed by boron on the periodic table.). This means that it has 7 electrons in its outer electron (or valence) shell. The Octet Rule states that all elements try to fill in their outer electron shell until they have eight electrons (When a chemical has 8 electrons in its outer shell, it is then stable; the Noble Gases are excellent examples). So, as it is so close to having 8 electrons in it's outer shell, it literally rips other atoms apart to get them. This is what happens to your respiratory system when you inhale chlorine gas. The gas literally rips apart your nasal passages, trachea, and lungs, by taking electrons out of the atoms that make up your cells. Obviously, chlorine gas causes a very painful death.
NITROGEN TRICHLORIDE (NCl3)
Another potential reaction, which is dependent upon the amounts in which the bleach and ammonia are mixed, is this:
3NaOCl + NH3 --> 3NaOH + NCl3
That's sodium hydroxide and nitrogen trichloride. Nitrogen trichloride is a very toxic chemical to humans, and even if you did get close enough to eat it, it would probably explode in your face first, as it is also a very volatile explosive. The author doubts the necessity of explaining why THAT is bad.
HYDRAZINE (N2H4)
Still another three-part reaction can occur, producing Hydrazine (N2H4, a component of rocket fuel) if you have more ammonia than bleach:
NH3 + NaOCl --> NaOH + NH2Cl.
These two products then react as follows:
NH3 + NH2Cl + NaOH -->N2H4 + NaCl + H2O.
Finally, one last reaction occurs to stabilize the reagents:
2NH2Cl + N2H4 ---> 2 NH4Cl + N2.
This last equation is of particular interest because of the amount of heat it produces. The heat is so great that it usually leads to an explosion.
!!!DANGER!!!
As mentioned before, this article mentions some very dangerous chemicals. One should not ever, EVER attempt to create the chemicals described above as it could result in injury, or death.
