Re: Question about Cyanide Gas (for a good cause :-)

[email removed] (jim vassilakos) writes:
> wondering about cyanide gas (I hope the TML-chemists aren't
> jumpy tonight).

Nope.

> Here's what I've gleaned so far.
>
> You take NaCN (Sodium Cyanide), mix it with some HCl (Hydrochloric
> acid), and whammo, lots of HCN (Hydrogen Cyanide gas). I means lots.
> Enough to really ruin everybody's day assuming you're on a
> closed air supply (like a starship). Say one bucket of
> ingredients per 10,000 tons of displacement affected?

The reaction sounds right.  I'm not sure about the toxicity (sp?),
given that a starship has filters, that sounds a bit low.

> will it really be a gas (ain't much  good as a liquid)?

Basically, yes.

> Second, what does NaCN and HCN look like, smell like, etc? Well,

NaCN is a white powder.  Looks like any other white powder in the lab.

> I guess not many people know what HCN smells like... :-) but you

Actually I *have* smelled HCN.  Get a bottle of almond extract, put it
under your nose, and inhale hard.  (you'll have to imagine the
splitting headache I got....)

> get the idea. I need lots of adjectives for the story, and I don't
> mean the sort you'd find reading an encyclopedia. Anybody
> have an ounce of hands-on experience with this sort of
> thing? (Don't say anthing self-incriminating, now :-)

Almonds.  Sorta sweet odor.  Sorta pleasant.  Splitting headache.
(don't know how it gets when the concentrations get fatal.  It blocks
cellular respiration so people just sorta fall down dead, in about 10
seconds.  Face turns blue and they generally thrash around a lot.)

	-Love, Kisses, and a Neutron Bomb
		-Eric the Finn