Interesting Facts about Sulfur

• Sulfur makes up almost 3% of the earth’s mass. If you think that’s not much, next time you look to the sky and see the moon, think of this: the earth contains enough sulfur to make not just one new moon, but two!
• When Shakespeare’s Othello asks for punishment, one possibility he mentions is: “…roast me in sulphur!”
• Sulfur burns with a very satisfying blue flame – its old name is brimstone, which means ‘burn stone’ or ‘stone that burns.’
• Pure sulfur has no smell, but many of its compounds stink! For example sulfur compounds called mercaptans give skunks their awful smell. Rotten eggs (and most stink bombs) get their distinctive aroma courtesy of hydrogen sulfide, H₂S.
• Cave bacteria, which digest hydrogen sulfide, produce snottites (think of slimy stalactites) in caves. These snottites drip sulfuric acid with a pH as low as zero – that’s enough to burn holes in your clothes if you stand underneath them. Snottite bacteria thrive in areas where there are sulfur deposits or sulfur-containing minerals or hydrocarbons. The sulfuric acid they excrete carves out new cave systems underground by dissolving rocks.
• There’s a much higher proportion of sulfur in the earth’s core than in its crust – approximately 100 times more.
• Penicillin is a natural, sulfur-based antibiotic.

References

1. G. Eggert, M. Weichert, H. Euler, B. Barbier, Some news about Black Spots., 2004, Proceedings of Metal, p142 (pdf download).

2. Rick Briggs, Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence., AI Magazine Volume 6 Number 1, 1985, p32.

3. Cyrus Edson, Disinfection of Dwellings by Means of Sulphur Dioxide., Public Health Pap Rep., 1889, 15: p65-68.

4. Thomas F. Glick, Steven John Livesey, Faith Wallis, Dioxide, Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia., 2005, p211, Routelidge.

5. Homer, The Odyssey, p270.

6. Charles Stephenson, The Admiral’s Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the Origins of Chemical Warfare., p93, Boydell Press.

7. Eric Croddy, Chemical and Biological Warfare., p128, Copernicus Books

8. Antoine Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry at Project Gutenberg 1790, Translation of the original 1789 French by Robert Kerr.

9. Hans-Werner Schütt, Eilhard Mitscherlich, Prince of Prussian Chemistry., p98, Chemical Heritage Foundation.

10. William B. Jensen, The Origin of the Term Allotrope., J. Chem. Educ., 2006, 83 (6), p838.

11. Justus Freiherr von Liebig, Familiar Letters on Chemistry., 1843.

12. Sulfur Dioxide in Workplace Atmospheres Occupational Safety & Health Administration

13. Why does chopping an onion make you cry?, Library of Congress.

14. "Sulfur History". Georgiagulfsulfur.com. Retrieved 2008-09-12.

15. Magnetic susceptibility of the elements and inorganic compounds, in Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. CRC press. 2000.

16. ^abc Greenwood, N. N.; & Earnshaw, A. (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd Edn.), Oxford:Butterworth-Heinemann.

17. A strong odor called "smell of sulfur" actually is given off by several sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide andorganosulfur compounds.

18. ^ab Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997).Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann. pp. 645–662. Steudel, Ralf; Eckert, Bodo (2003). "Solid Sulfur Allotropes Sulfur Allotropes". Topics in Current Chemistry. Topics in Current Chemistry 230: 1–80.

19. Steudel, R. (1982). "Homocyclic Sulfur Molecules". Topics in Current Chemistry. Topics in Current Chemistry 102: 149–176.

20. Tebbe, Fred N.; Wasserman, E.; Peet, William G.; Vatvars, Arturs; Hayman, Alan C. (1982). "Composition of Elemental Sulfur in Solution: Equilibrium of S₆, S₇, and S₈ at Ambient Temperatures". Journal of the American Chemical Society104 (18): 4971–4972.

21. Meyer, Beat (1964). "Solid Allotropes of Sulfur". Chemical Reviews 64 (4): 429–451.

22. Meyer, Beat (1976). "Elemental sulfur". Chemical Reviews76 (3): 367–388.

23. Cameron, A. G. W. (1957). "Stellar Evolution, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Nucleogenesis"

24. Kutney, Gerald (2007). Sulfur: history, technology, applications & industry. Toronto: ChemTec Publications. p. 43.

25. ^abcde Nehb, Wolfgang; Vydra, Karel (2006). "Sulfur".Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Wiley-VCH Verlag.

26. Emil; Kent, James (2007). Kent and Riegel's handbook of industrial chemistry and biotechnology, Volume 1. New York: Springer. p. 1171.

27. Washington, Booker T. The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe.

28. ^abc Eow, John S. (2002). "Recovery of sulfur from sour acid gas: A review of the technology". Environmental Progress 21 (3): 143–162.

29. ^abc Schreiner, Bernhard (2008). "Der Claus-Prozess. Reich an Jahren und bedeutender denn je". Chemie in unserer Zeit 42 (6): 378–392.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1624