Sodium sulfide

Description

Yellow, hygroscopic lumps. Sodium sulfide is used as a depilatory in dehairing hides and pulling wool. It is also used in the manufacture of rubber, dyes, and paper pulp. Sodium sulfide is used to blacken metals and as a toner for black and white photographs. It is also used in engraving and lithographic printing.

Synonyms and Related Terms

sodium monosulfide; sodium sulfuret

Risks

• Flammable. Fire and explosion risk with percussion or heat.
• Toxic by ingestion.
• Corrosive. S
• Skin contact causes irritation and burns.
• Reacts with acids to evolve toxic hydrogen sulfide fumes.
• ThermoFisher: SDS

Physical and Chemical Properties

Soluble in water slowly forming sodium thiosulfate and sodium hydroxide. Slightly soluble in ethanol. Insoluble in ether.

Composition	Na2S
CAS	16721-80-5
Melting Point	1180 C
Density	1.856 g/ml
Molecular Weight	mol. wt. = 240.18

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 786

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• E.J.LaBarre, Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Paper and Paper-making, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1969

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 8830

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Website address 1 Comment: photographic chemicals at www.jetcity.com/~mrjones/chemdesc.htm