Hydrogen sulfide, also known as sulfuric acid, is a toxic compound found in fossil fuels and volcanic emissions. It has a weak acidic nature and a strong odor, but is not heavily used due to limited applications. It can be dangerous in gaseous form and was used as a chemical warfare agent in World War I.
Sulfuric acid is a highly toxic chemical compound that forms when hydrogen sulphide is dissolved in water. Classified as a weak acid, sulfuric acid’s strongest distinguishing feature is its strong odor, reminiscent of rotten eggs, giving it the nicknames “damp stench” and “sewer gas.” Present in large quantities in the earth’s crust and also known as hydrogen sulfide, it is not only a large part of volcanic emissions, but is also present in many fossil fuels including both crude oil and natural gas. While both contain hydrogen and sulfur, sulfuric acid is a very different chemical from sulfuric acid.
To produce sulfuric acid, hydrogen sulfide gas must be dissolved in water. Each of its molecules contains two hydrogen atoms and one sulfur atom, which gives it a molecular weight of 34.08. The acid itself is considered relatively weak, especially when compared to sulfuric acid. While the pH of sulfuric acid is an extremely low 1.0, the pH of sulfuric acid is 4.5, putting its relative strength somewhere between bananas and tomato juice.
Hydrogen sulfide is present in many fossil fuels. In fact, one of the simplest ways to produce it is to simply separate it from “sour gas,” a natural gas adulterated with up to 90% hydrogen sulfide. Although it is less prevalent in crude oil, it is still frequently present. Its presence in well water in the form of hydrogen sulfide can be dangerous, requiring oxidation with ozone or a manganese filter to make it inert and non-toxic.
Hydrogen sulfide is not a frequently produced or heavily used chemical compared to other acids due to its limited number of uses. While it can be made by a process that involves burning elemental sulfur with hydrogen, sulfuric acid can also be inverted back into elemental sulfur. Chemists also use it as an analytical tool due to its ability to detect the presence of metallic elements in solutions. Other applications include being used to separate heavy water, a type of water made with deuterium rather than hydrogen, which is useful in some nuclear reactors, from ordinary water.
As toxic as cyanide, sulfuric acid is a dangerous chemical, especially in its gaseous form. One of its most dangerous characteristics is that it has a strong, unpleasant odor at harmless low concentrations but dulls human sense of smell at higher, toxic concentrations. The British used it as a chemical warfare agent in World War I, and in 2008 it was involved in a suicide spree in Japan. Some paleontologists think it played a part in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, about 250 million years ago.
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