Sciencemadness Discussion Board

mercury and hydrogen sulfide

bariumbromate - 17-9-2025 at 17:04

i've been making mercury for a while by ozcanium's method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFNJw86JaQ&t=183s

but the h2s corrodes my fume hood fan duct and i constantly have to replace it.

nilered does a similar reaction but makes no mention of h2s https://youtu.be/0e78I9_oH1E?si=AIzDZII36zMsdu8g&t=373

is there a way to slow/stop h2s production? will more hydroxide work?


thank you

j_sum1 - 17-9-2025 at 17:53

Can you scrub the H2S?
Pass it through a solution of NaOH

Given the nature of H2S, I would be inclined to use two scrubbers in series, probably using an aquarium bubbler to get a fine dispersion of bubbles. The first would be in a flask. The second a large beaker. I would put a wet cloth over the beaker to catch anything remaining, and have that in a fume hood.

Always with H2S, have your work area littered with test strips made of filter paper soaked on CuSO4. Smell is a good indicator that something is escaping. But if your test strips darken then you know where it is escaping.

The good thing about H2S is that it smells bad and the danger threshold is higher than the smell threshold.

Texium - 17-9-2025 at 18:26

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
Can you scrub the H2S?
Pass it through a solution of NaOH
Bleach is even better than NaOH as a scrubber. It will oxidize the H2S, rendering it odorless.

Radiums Lab - 17-9-2025 at 18:59

You can use moist lead acetate strips for more effective test

j_sum1 - 17-9-2025 at 19:34

Quote: Originally posted by Radiums Lab  
You can use moist lead acetate strips for more effective test

True. But I prefer to avoid lead salts when there are alternatives.