Talk:Ammonium hydrosulfide

(NH4)2S is probably fictitious

IMHO, this compound does not exist as described, probably. The pKa of HS- (>14) is such that NH3 is too weak to deprotonate it. The situation is akin to claims of hydrated Na2S, which are really NaOH-NaSH. (NH4)2S is probably something like NH4+ SH- co-crystallized with NH3, all held together with extensive H-bonding.--Smokefoot 03:12, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Since I got no response, I plan to move this article to ammonium hydrosulfide.--Smokefoot 18:48, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

I just want to point out that the 71st edition of the CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry (1990-1991) (which is the only one I have) lists separate properties for ammonium hydrogen sulfide (NH₄HS), ammonium monosulfide ((NH₄)₂S), and ammonium pentasulfide ((NH₄)₂S₅) on page 4-45. See the other section "anhydrous properties" where I put the info for details. I have no idea where their information comes from, but it seems an awful lot better than no source, and the CRC is a pretty well trusted source of chemistry information, even if this edition is a bit old.75.117.222.22 (talk) 05:23, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, I'm the person who posted the 1991 CRC data. If you look at it, you'll see that ammonium sulfide and ammonium hydrosulfide are both listed as soluble in liquid ammonia. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are also both rather soluble in water, partially forming ammonium hydroxide and ionized forms of hydrosulfuric acid (i.e., H₃OHS, (H₃O)₂S), and this page lists ammonium hydrosulfide as "miscible" with water. Thus, I suspect that, in fluid solutions, it's really a continuous phase-space of solutions of water, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide — the NH₃-H₂O-H₂S system. Any solution probably contains these 3 molecules, ammonium ions, hydronium ions, protons, hydroxide ions, hydrosulfide ions, and sulfide ions, with the ammounts depending on the concentration. If the nitrogen-sulfur ratio is 1 than it would make sense to call it ammonium hydrosulfide, and if it is 2 than it would make sense to call it ammonium sulfide. This is just my thoughts, but I suspect that's what's really going on.DubleH (talk) 21:48, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Molar mass of (NH4)SH vs. (NH4)2S

This is my first comment on Wikipedia, so I'm not sure if I'm following the right discussion format here. But I noticed that the molar mass on this page doesn't match the molecular formula listed. It does match the second formula, but not the main one listed under "Properties". I'm basing my comments on these results:

Molar mass of (NH4)SH = 51.1114 according to this page: http://www.formulaweight.com/molarmass/(NH4)SH

Molar mass of (NH4)2S = 68.14192 according to this page: http://www.formulaweight.com/molarmass/(NH4)2S

So if the main molecular formula is listed as H5NS, I think the molar mass should say 51.111 g/mol for that particular formula (CAS number 12124-99-1).

Blueaudio 00:03, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Safety

Needs a safety/hazard section. RJFJR (talk) 16:33, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Badly worded sentence

There is something wrong with this sentence: "By passing hydrogen sulfide mixed with a slight excess of ammonia gives the colourless, micaceous crystals"

Solid state on Earth

Solid state, assuming a crystalline state, is not known from Earth. This would be a mineral species, which - if exists - is yet to be discovered. No rumours about its presence are known. Eudialytos (talk) 23:25, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

Anhydrous Properties

The 71st edition of the CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry (1990-1991) (which is the only one I have) lists separate properties for ammonium hydrosulfide (NH₄HS), ammonium monosulfide ((NH₄)₂S), and ammonium pentasulfide ((NH₄)₂S₅) on page 4-45:

Under the section: "Ammonium" in PHYSICAL CONSTANTS OF INORGANIC COMPOUNDS

No.	Name	Synonyms and Formulae	Mol. wt.	Crystalline form properties and index of refraction	Density or spec. gravity	Melting point, °C	Boiling point, °C	Cold water	Hot water	Other Solvents
a237	sulfide, hydro-	NH4HS	51.11	wh rhomb, 1.74	1.17	11819atm	88.419atm	128.10	d	s al; NH3
a238	sulfide, mono-	(NH4)2S	68.14	col yel cr (> — 18), hygr	...	d	...	v s	d	s al; v s NH3
a239	sulfide, penta-	(NH4)2S5	196.39	yel pr	...	d 115	...	v s	d	s al, i eth, C22

The last 3 columns refer to "Solubility, in grams per 100 cc". I just couldn't be bothered to figure out how to format it the way they did.

Abbreviations (given on page 4-40):

wh = white

col = colorless

yel = yellow

rhomb = rhombic/orthorhombic (but not rhombohedral)

cr = crystalline

pr = prisms

hyg = hygroscopic (Presumably "hygr" means the same thing.)

d = decomposes

s = soluble

v s = very soluble

i = insoluble

s = soluble

al = alcohol (I suppose this is most likely ethanol.)

eth = ether (I suppose this is most likely diethyl ether)

Based on the other entries in the book, "0" superscript on the solubility of NH₄HS in cold water presumably means that the measurement was made at 0°C. Also, I assume that the "19atm" superscript on it's melting and boiling points means that these measurements were taken at 19 atmospheres of pressure rather than atmospheric pressure. I'm not entirely sure what that implies, but it does seem likely that such measurements might be impossible at 1 atm, and high pressures do tend to allow compounds to remain stable at higher temperatures and allow liquid phases to occur in compounds that normally would have no liquid phase. Based on the Wikipedia page, the NH₄HS cloud layer on Jupiter is at less than 2 atm, so I doubt that's the reason.

What's more notable is the fact that this seems to say that it boils before it melts at 19atm. That seems wrong, so I'm guessing that either they just accidentally switched the places of these two numbers, or the boiling point is for a solution and melting point is anhydrous or some other sort of crossed hairs with the data sources.

I'm not sure what "> — 18" means, but the "—" was on a line break, so it might just mean that the index of refraction is greater than 18, although that does seem incredibly high to me.

It's pretty clear that this data is all for the anhydrous phases, which is good, since that data is lacking in this Wikipedia article. I just now added the anhydrous appearance data to the info bar on the right, and I'm planning to add the citation as soon as I figure out how to write it. I'd like to incorporate some of the rest of this data if I can figure out how, too. Also, the uncited "boiling point" of 56.6°C, which I'm not sure if is for a solution or not, really bother's me, although I don't have any better data for that at 1 atm, so I probably won't replace it.75.117.222.22 (talk) 05:31, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

I've now seen a number of substances which have "boiling points" listed lower than melting points, such as AlCl3, which Wikipedia gives as having a "boiling point" of 180°C, stating that it sublimes at this temperature, but then gives a melting point of 192°C, which roughly agrees with the 190°C melting point my CRC gives for 2.5 atm. (My CRC gives, instead of a normal boiling point, a sublimation point ("subl.") of 177.8°C, a decomposition temperature of 262°C, and a slightly mysterious number of 182.7, with a superscript of "752", which I guess might be the pressure in mm Hg for that boiling point.) This behavior of a solid beginning to "sublime" significantly before it melts, but actually having a melting point at the pressure under consideration (usually 1 atm) would be similar to elemental iodine (I2), and maybe that is what is really meant by the CRC giving the 19 atm "boiling point" of NH₄HS as lower than it's "melting point". It is somewhat mysterious why it doesn't say "subl.", if that's what is meant, though, so maybe it really is just a mistake. In any case, it will require other sources for us to know for sure.

PS: I'm the one who started this section. The previous text is mine, from before I had a Wikipedia account.DubleH (talk) 19:03, 30 October 2020 (UTC)