Mixing bleach with ammonia is a bad plan because it releases toxic vapors, but not so much the chlorine gas that seems to be discussed all over the internet. The production of significant amounts of chlorine is unlikely. Now, the bleach does react (with just about anything) to form chlorine gas and acid (mainly hydrochloric acid), but the chlorine gas doesn't stick around. The mixture of bleach and ammonia primarily produces chloramine, with a possibility of some hydrazine.
Chemicals Involved
Note that each and every one of these chemicals is toxic, except for the water and salt.- NH3 = ammonia
- HCl = hydrochloric acid
- NaOCl = sodium hypochlorite (bleach)
- Cl = chlorine
- Cl2 = chlorine gas
- NH2Cl = chloramine
- N2H4 = hydrazine
- NaCl = sodium chloride or salt
- H2O = water
Likely Chemical Reactions from Mixing Bleach and Ammonia
The bleach decomposes to form hydrochloric acid, which reacts with ammonia to form toxic chloramine fumes:First the hydrochloric acid is formed:
NaOCl → NaOH + HOCl
HOCl → HCl + O
And then the ammonia and chlorine gas react to form chloramine, which is released as a vapor:
NaOCl + 2HCl → Cl2 + NaCl + H2O
2NH3 + Cl2 → 2NH2Cl
If ammonia is present in excess (which it may or may not be, depending on your mixture), toxic and potentially explosive liquid hydrazine may be formed. While impure hydrazine tends not to explode, it's still toxic, plus it can boil and spray hot toxic liquid.
2NH3 + NaOCl → N2H4 + NaCl + H2O
What to Do If You Mix Bleach and Ammonia - First Aid
If you do accidentally become to exposed to fumes from mixing bleach and ammonia, immediately remove yourself from the vicinity to fresh air and seek emergency medical attention. The vapors can attack your eyes and mucous membranes, but the biggest threat comes from inhaling the gases.- Get away from the site where the chemicals were mixed. You can't call for help if you are overwhelmed by the fumes.
- Call 911 for emergency help. If you really don't think it's that bad, then at least call Poison Control for advice on handling the after-effects of exposure and cleaning up the chemicals. The number for Poison Control is:1-800-222-1222
- If you find someone who you think has mixed bleach and ammonia, chances are he or she will be unconscious. If you can, remove the person to fresh air, preferably outdoors. Call 911 for emergency assistance. Do not hang up until instructed to do so.
- Thoroughly ventilate the area before returning to dispose of the liquid. Seek specific instructions from Poison Control so that you don't hurt yourself. You're most likely to make this mistake in a bathroom or kitchen, so leave and seek assistance, return later to open a window, allow time for the fumes to dissipate, and then go back to clean up. Dilute the chemical mixture with plenty of water. Wear gloves, just as you would for either bleach or ammonia.
Comments
Whoops. When I was about 12 a friend and I mixed these two chemicals on the patio to make some “smoke”. An hour or so later, with the 2 chemicals still “smoking” on the patio, we went to bed with the window open to the patio. In the morning I woke to a very sore throat. I then realized what I had done and prayed that I would not soon die. I am still here, but learned a lesson about the toxicity of this mixture.
We call it mustard gas. My daughter-in-law made some this afternoon cleaning the tub. She’s lucky to be alive.
23 oct 2010: Mixing of the two: Bleach and ammonia can solve a big problem: How to get rid of gofers and moles.
I tried almost all methods to get rid of gofers. Drowning, trapping and the vibrating gofer stick that does not work. Nothing worked. Then I poured 1 gallon of bleach down the gofer hole and then one gallon of ammonia and coverede the hole. No more gofers. This works but of course be careful. DO NOT BREATHE THE VAPORS!.
I WANT YOU TO KILL EVERY GOPHER ON THE COURSE!!
Excuse me if I’m wrong, but if I kill every golfer on the course, they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key.
You are an idiot. You think it is OK to release toxic chemicals into the ground to solve a gopher problem? I hear Carcinogens are good for gophers too, perhaps napalm, OH even better if there is a nuclear facility near by Im sure some toxic waste will git rid of dem pesky critters! HAaYUCK
Sorry about the leukemia little billy… we had gophers.
or even worse the gophers that survive might give birth to mutant gopher babies who grow up resenting the human race and start plotting their revenge … could this be the start of WW3… I can already see the irony
I did this in 5th grade when it was my summer job to clean the house. I didn’t realize it was dangerous, I just thought that if both cleaned well, then mixing them together would also clean well. I just remember a strong burning sensation in my mouth, throat, lungs, eyes, nose and having trouble breathing. I managed to get out of the house and gasp for air a bit and started to feel better. After awhile, I went back in the house and dumped the mix down the drain with lots of water and went back to work.
Torben, you are a disgustingly cruel person.
No he’s not. Gofers dig holes under your house until one day. Bam your house falls in.
I knew those golfers were devious!
this one day, i was cleaning my bathroom, and i mixed bleach and ammonia together, and because my kids were being annoying, i locked them both in the bathroom containing the bleach and ammonia, they both died terribly slow deaths, i am much happier without them to this day!
This is not funny..
ditto
lol. thats funny.
I hope its still funny when your buring in HELL!
ditto^^^^^^
your so sick
i know u aont goin 2 heaven
Ann Marie, you have performed an amazing feat. You say:
Likely Chemical Reactions from Mixing Bleach and Ammonia
The bleach decomposes to form hydrochloric acid, which reacts with ammonia to form toxic chloramine fumes:
First the hydrochloric acid is formed:
NaOCl → NaOH + HOCl
HOCl → HCl + O
In my 40 year career as an industrial chemist I have never met anyone before who could take two alkaline materials (sodium hypochlorite and ammonium hydroxide) and mix them together to form an acid! I have a favor to ask – I have a large lead brick that I would like to send you so you can turn it into gold for me. I’ll help you with the equation: Lead + magic = gold
Rob, i think she means:
NaOCl + H2O -> NaOH +HOCl,
followed by the decomposition of HOCl into HCl, which is a perfectly valid rxn.
some day i hope to be as good a chemist as Rob when i grow up so i can be a uppity prick too! aw shucks your my hero Rob.
Fartfignutron -
Your point is well taken. I should have left the sarcasm out and made a professional statement instead. I apologize for the tone of my comment.
…Is your offer for the lead+magic reaction still open?
Very professional apology. Personally I thought it was great what you said, but some people don’t get sarcasm
gets rid of squirrels too!
It sure does! but you gotta be quick..
Sounds like I soon won’t have to pay alimony….
Hahaha ^_^
To Kate, even though your comment was in November 2010. I guess you’ve never had gophers or moles in your yard, garden,etc. I used to flood them out, then hit them with a shovel. Wow, bleach and amonia is so much easier – and I don’t have to wash the shovel afterwards. Disgustingly cruel, perhaps, but efficient.
Geez Shiloh that makes me want to find somewhere with a lot of gophers to conduct a study on which is more effective. I imagine DYNOMIIIIIIITE would work. In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, ‘Au revoir, gopher’!!!!
People are just so sensitive to stupid things, gophers may be cute or whatever, but what is the last thing the little fuzzy bastard did for you?
Those little bastards killed my mums tree, then they attract the rattlesnakes, and leave the yard with tunnels which my family falls in through and can hurt themselves, then they leave mounds of dirt everywhere, naawww but they cute! No. They’re PESTS even though I hate to think of any creature losing its life
They supplied my family with food during the great depression and the dirty thirties (they are actually great cooks)… They nurse sick children back to health with their smiles and rainbow filled eyes… you sick sick basterds!
Wow you guys are lazy, I just sit and wait with my .223 more fun that way. Also get a tiny pelt to.
if you know where both ends of the tunnel are then pour a bit of gas down one side then light the other
Well, I must say that I have never heard of this before and yes; I did graduate. My very first experience with this concoction happened today. I threw some household bleach in the toilet, left it for a while and then threw in some “works” a toilet boil cleaner, well…… the rest is pretty funny when I look back now, but I thought I was surely going to die, it took my breath away and penetrated my nostrils something fierce!!!! I thought for sure I made mustard gas, holy cheezits!
I ran for the patio door and sucked in some clean fresh air for about 15 mins, the grabbed a towel and went in to disarm this evil substance before “what I thought” would be the end of my bathroom; but also thinking if I flushed it….. would my septic blow up????? omg! whatever, I had to get rid of the toxic substance before my beloved kitty cats got a wiff. So I went in armed with a towel tightly tied across my nose, flushed the toilet once and ran! Came back and took the toilet brush and swished it around and flushed again and ran!!! I opened all the windows and doors and called a friend in Florida and told her, she laughed and me, she told me that she did the exact same thing a couple of years ago……. I beg of you, please don’t expose anyone to this, be they a human or an animal, rodent or whatever, it’s just nasty!!!!!
um HOCl → HCl + O ????
I’d like to see you try to rip apart OCl- without hydrochloric acid to begin with.
The proper equilibrium is:
HOCl OCl- + H+
HCl is never formed when NaOCl is mixed with water, and chlorine gas can only be formed using HCl as a reactant.
How about this for all you chemists? Ammonia + bleach= not feeling good if you inhale.
I love the race to show who’s the smartest yet the only one right is the author.
Rob, Well said. There should be more men as big as you in this life.
Question for all you brainiacs? I have mice urin in my walls(we’re remolding) and want to clean it with bleach. The only problem is that Mice urin contains Amonia. Is this still a haz-mat stituation with such small amounts.
Several years ago, when I was newly married, I’m not sure if my wife wanted me to do a good job cleaning the toilet, or just kill me off. She told me the bathroom already had the chemicals ready, and with an awkward smile told me I could get started. Afterward, I began stirring the toilet, when all of a sudden extreme vapors overtook me and almost knocked me out. I barely made it out of the tiny bathroom to get some fresh air. Once I caught my breath I asked her what she put in the toilet. She said, “bleach and ammonia.” Apparently, no one ever told her this was a bad idea. I don’t clean toilets anymore.
YOU rock Mr. signor
Are you all saying it will kill you or just make you feel bad for a little time?
I did this to get rid of the mice in my pole shed (100×30). It worked extremely well. Wearing a respriator I poured a gallon of both into a galvanized steel tub. This mixture killed every rodent and insect in the shop. I did it on a Sunday and by the following Friday it was totally aired out and I was left to clean up the carnage. A five gallon pail full of carcass’. I still don’t seem to have a rodent problem anymore.
Getting a cat to hunt them works to. And not only are you getting rid of pests you’re saving cats lives. Yay for ideas that don’t destroy the earth.
So through out everything that you all are mentioning no one is sharing how its treated. Forget about the formula. In all honesty the easiest thing to make is the Cl2. I didn’t have much of a huge mixture but the gas from it was so strong. I stayed in my house trying to delute it. Eventually I gave up when my eyes were burning and I could barely breathe. Now I am sitting in the emergency room terrified. So can some braniac explain how its treated so some of us stop freaking out. How long should the symptoms last before we seek medical attention.
I also think the acid comes first then the gas thankfully I didn’t touch the gas. People really don’t know the potency of mixing things like common household products. I have a business admin bachlor degree and also in accounting. This was never covered in my honors chem class and I’m pretty smart.
Thanks for the advice and can we please not talk about killing animals. This stuff is potient so be careful it can kill anything.
All I was trying to do was kills some ants and spiders coming from the window. I think I succeeded.
It should be noted that cat pee has lots of ammonia, so no cleaning the litterbox with bleach cleaning products.
No one ever told me not to mix Bleach and Ammonia together.!! Last year my grandmum was sleep, so I was doing the dishes before I went to bed also. There was a god awful stain in the pan so I put bleach in it to get rid of it. (Ya know, like other people do). Then I thought that since Ammonia was also strong (and I have seen my grandmum put a little in the dish water) I thought that would help to.
I put the Ammonia in the same pan as the bleach and it started fizzling. I know it didnt look right, but I did not know what to do, so I just stood over the pot and stared at it.!
I was on facebook while I was doing the dishes so I left the kitchen for 5 miuutes and got back on the computer. Things didnt look right in the pot when I went back. I got a bit dizzy and got scared. I did not know what to do and I did not want to wake my grandmum. I ended up messaging my best friend and he told me about everything. Also told me to open up the front room windows and let it air out. I stayed up for a little while longer then went to bed.
The next morning while my grandmum was doing the laundry with the beach, she told me that Ammonia and Bleach DO NOT! Mix together.
I know I’ll never Mixx those things again -__-
Hmmm, how about we just read the warning labels on these products?
Lol Obvious man thats the best advice on here. I mean christ people. They put the caution and warnings on there for a reason. TO READ!
I don’t mind gophers or squirrels but would it be effective to rid us of the kardashians? Not that I’m planning anything…
>>to rid us of the kardashians?
Interesting ….. if we could find their hole, I’d be willing to dump in the ammonia and the bleach!
Is anyone else surprised that Bruce Jenner is associated with those clowns..
it jsut happened with my dad last night, while in the bathroom he thought it would be a great cleaning solution to pour acid over a toilet bowl where bleach has already been sprinkled, he had to get the nebulizer and oxygen. Basically, the acid was home-use grade HCL, and bleach is well simply put solidified chlorine mixed with water. So when acid if poured onto bleach (ironically in this case the acid was HCL) then chlorine is released and then that chlorine inhaled combines with water cells in the body lungs etc and forms HCL. So the acid inside the airways causes the burning feeling and feeling very bad.
Seven years ago a co-worker who also works in housekeeping brought cotton mop heads from school where she also works and threw them in the washer off the kitchen where I was working. She added bleach and went off to work in another room. All of a sudden I could not breath…I ran from the room to the office told the girls there I was getting out of there. On my way out I opened windows, turned on stove overhead fan…left the back door open and went home. Turned out the mops had been used with an amonia cleaner. I had lung nodules five years ago and again have some. Now I have just been diagnosed with Asthma.. My Pulmonologist told me my problem was from something I inhaled. The only thing was this incident. So if you have inhaled this stuff it may come back to haunt you. This is a deadly mixture and no joking matter.
The combo was also used as “punishment” aka torture in David Pelzer’s A Child Called “It”.
so if i run to the store and get a gallon of each, lock myself in my room and dump them both in a 5gallon pail, i can shed this mortal coil? or will it just make me sick? i wanna do this right without a gun, guns are messy and dont wanna burden some poor sap with cleaning brains off the ceiling or my last meal off the floor. (if u catch my drift)
If you’re still alive, I care! Don’t do it!
What was that crazy person up at the top all tree huggy about, my God, the dude just said it was a good way to get rid of some critters, and someone unglued themselves from a tree long enough to comment, oh those poor Critters, and all the kids in the USA are going to get Lukemia, Get a life, your gonna get lukemia from the chemicals that already reside in that bottled water you drink, OH BUT BOTTLED WATER IS SOO GOOD FOR ME< no its not, and its not good for your mother, the earth.