CyrusGrey - 17-3-2008 at 20:53
I was working on making antimony trioxide tonight from stibnite + H2O2. After the peroxide had turned the stibnite into a white fluffy solid, I
started to boil it down. I had put a coffee filter over the mixture to prevent splattering. I had nearly boiled it down and the filter paper had small
splatters of the mixture on it, and then the filter paper spontaniously started smouldering. I guess this was from the peroxide. The portion of paper
that burned had probably about 200-500mg of antimony trioxide that went up as black smoke. I didn't inhale it directly, but I'm worried that I might
have been exposed to some of the fumes.
How toxic is antimony trioxide? I read that its comparable to arsenic, but I have no experience with arsenic. I felt a little light headed immediatly
after, but that passed shortly after that (It has been about an hour, I had a thorough shower immediatly after the experiment). Think my brief symptom
was serious or only one of my hypochondriacal dillusions?
not_important - 17-3-2008 at 22:40
Psychosomatic, sounds like adrenalin OD. Antimony is considered to have high toxicity, the definition of that term is here:
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/hapintro.html#5a
Remember the difference between acute and chronic exposure. Acute poisoning is rare, and the signs are fairly non-characteristic (vomiting,
abdominal pain, irritation of the mucous membranes, diarrhea, cardiac irregularities).
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/antimony.html
CyrusGrey - 18-3-2008 at 09:16
Thanks Not_important. Its the next day and I have no additional symptoms. I think your right about it just being my imagination.
unionised - 18-3-2008 at 11:51
"antimony trioxide that went up as black smoke" Sb2O3 is white isn't it? so presumable most of the smoke was soot.