Advertisement

This site uses cookies to enhance your user experience. By continuing to use this site you are agreeing to our COOKIE POLICY.

ACCEPT AND CLOSE

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

The key to knowledge is in your (nitrile-gloved) hands

Already an ACS Member?  

Basic

$0 Community Associate

ACS’s Basic Package keeps you connected with C&EN and ACS.

  • Access to 6 digital C&EN articles per month on cen.acs.org
  • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Essential newsletter
JOIN NOW
Standard

$80 Regular Members & Society Affiliates

ACS’s Standard Package lets you stay up to date with C&EN, stay active in ACS, and save.

Eligibility restrictions apply. Review ACS Membership Packages to see if you qualify.

JOIN NOW
Premium

$160 Regular Members & Society Affiliates
$55 Graduate Students
$25 Undergraduate Students

ACS’s Premium Package gives you full access to C&EN and everything the ACS Community has to offer.

  • Unlimited access to C&EN’s daily news coverage on cen.acs.org
  • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Magazine in print or digital format
  • Access to our Chemistry News by C&EN mobile app
  • Significant discounts on registration for most ACS-sponsored meetings
ACS offers discounts for some countries outside the United States. This discount is shown at checkout, if applicable.

JOIN NOW

Thank you!

Your account has been created successfully, and a confirmation email is on the way.

Your username is now your ACS ID.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Safety

Chemical Safety: Sodium Azide Hazards

January 11, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 2
Advertisement

Most Popular in Safety

Robert Seibert's letter contains an interesting account of an explosion that involved sodium azide (NaN3) in the late 1940s (C&EN, Nov. 9, 2009, page 8). Following the dreadful accident, Seibert remembers remarking that the explosion must have been caused by wet methanol and warns about the dangers of adding sodium azide to wet methanol.

Because no further details about the contents of the reactor are given, there is nothing I can say about it but to clarify that NaN3 does not form explosive compounds when dissolved in water. Besides its toxicity, the danger associated with NaN3 is its ability to form explosive azides when reacted with heavy metals such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, or nickel.

Cesar Aliaga
Albany, Calif.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.
GET MORE
GET MORE