Anhydrous Ammonia

WARNING: this blog post contains disturbing images caught on video.

A year ago I was involved in HazMat training for the hospital I worked for. During that training we watched a couple of videos on a toxic substance called anhydrous ammonia.

What is anhydrous ammonia?

Anhydrous ammonia is 99.99% pure. It is used as a fertilizer along with other uses (I won't go into them all). In contrast to anhydrous, typical household ammonia is 5-10% pure. Some firearm cleaners are 13% ammonia (ammonia is an excellent at dissolving copper). Think about that for a moment. Most of us have smelled ammonia in our homes. Some of us have been hit in the head and become lightheaded then brought back with smelling salts (ammonia tablets in a first aid kit). Or used an ammonia cleaner for windows and mirrors for the streak free shine. Now imagine a form of ammonia that is twenty times more powerful. That is anhydrous ammonia.

The human body is made up of 50-70% water. The brain between 70-85% and the blood around 92%. Why does any of that matter? Because of the term anhydrous. Anhydrous means free from water. And, anhydrous ammonia is solvable in water. Do you see where I'm going here folks? If you have something that is solvable in water, and is free of water, then comes in contact with something 50-70% water...

In the following video the kind of volatile reaction is demonstrated when a human comes in contact with anhydrous ammonia. If you should decide to watch the video, I want you to take a look at the upper right of the screen and note the time. Then note the time when the officer arrives on scene, and note it one more time once he is overcome. Also, listen to the radio chatter so you can understand what the officer is thinking when he arrives on screen.

I want to warn any of you that chose to watch the video, it's disturbing.

My advice to anyone approaching a scene like this, don't approach the scene, get upwind immediately.

http://youtu.be/lzObhHet9QM