On Feb 10, 23:04, Tony Duell wrote:
> > Some (mostly non-consumer type) Lithium batteries use sulfur dioxide
in
> > them. Not the kind of thing that you want to rupture inside your PC (or
in
>
> But presumably in solution, not as a gas...
Yes, but I'm not sure what it's dissolved in; it's not very soluble in
water. Probably there's something else there to help (like dissolving
iodine in potassium iodide solution).
> > your house!). For the ones of you that aren't familar with the stuff,
> > sulfur dioxide is nuseating and toxic, and it also reacts with moisture
to
> > form sulfuric acid, INCLUDING the moisture inside your lungs!
>
> No it doesn't. It forms sulphurous acid (H2SO3), which is a much weaker
> acid than sulphuric (which is what you get if you disolve sulphur
> trioxide in water).
Except that SO3 isn't very water soluble either, commercially it's normally
dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid, to make more sulphuric acid.
> I an not suggesting that SO2 is particularly pleasant, but I am sure most
> of us here have burnt sulphur as part of a school chemistry experiment
> and lived to tell the tale.
It's used as a bleach, and as a preservative in foodstuffs (look for sodium
metabisulphite on the label -- it releases SO2 in acidic conditions).
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Mon Feb 11 2002 - 02:38:11 GMT