Sometime around , Antoine Lavoisier convinced the rest of the scientific community that sulfur was an element. The majority of the sulfur produced today is obtained from underground deposits, usually found in conjunction with salt deposits, with a process known as the Frasch process. Sulfur is a pale yellow, odorless and brittle material. It displays three allotropic forms: orthorhombic, monoclinic and amorphous.
The orthorhombic form is the most stable form of sulfur. Amorphous sulfur is formed when molten sulfur is quickly cooled. Amorphous sulfur is soft and elastic and eventually reverts back to the orthorhombic form.
SO 2 is the component of greatest concern and is used as the indicator for the larger group of gaseous sulfur oxides SO x. This may have the important co-benefit of reducing the formation of particulate sulfur pollutants, such as fine sulfate particles. Emissions that lead to high concentrations of SO 2 generally also lead to the formation of other SO x. The largest sources of SO 2 emissions are from fossil fuel combustion at power plants andother industrial facilities. The largest source of SO 2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels by power plants and other industrial facilities.
Smaller sources of SO 2 emissions include: industrial processes such as extracting metal from ore; natural sources such as volcanoes; and locomotives, ships and other vehicles and heavy equipment that burn fuel with a high sulfur content.
Short-term exposures to SO 2 can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult. People with asthma, particularly children, are sensitive to these effects of SO 2. And they've been accumulating for some years already - the sulphur price has been depressed since the late s. Born in Yorkshire, he came to London and invented a medicine called 'Joshua Ward's drop' that was spuriously supposed to cure people of any illness they had.
The acid was produced by igniting saltpetre on a large enough scale to allow continuous production. So the price was reduced to about one sixteenth of its former cost. Sulphur makes a very unpleasant smell when it is manufactured, and this permeated the whole neighbourhood.
The poet Alexander Pope wrote about him, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey. It's very good, but was considered too ostentatious to place in the Abbey. But it could be that Alberta will soon be joined by other parts of the world. The hydrocarbon industry is rapidly running out of "sweet" low-sulphur oil and gas sources, and so is returning to those previously spurned sour sources, with several projects about to start producing.
I imagine we will end up pouring a lot of it to block in the Middle East. And there it will sit until we need it again - because there is another source of demand for the element which looks set to grow steadily for the foreseeable future, agriculture. Like the phosphate fertilisers that sulphuric acid helps to produce, the element sulphur is itself a nutrient for plants and animals 0.
And the very same environmental restrictions that have created the sulphur glut also mean that farmers now need to buy it. Today's sulphur glut will not last forever.
Eventually either the sour oil and gas will run out, or the world will stop digging the stuff up as it switches over to cleaner and potentially far cheaper renewable energy sources. Meanwhile, with the world's population set to reach 10 billion by mid-century, the need to boost crop yields will intensify - and that means a lot more demand for sulphur, both as a fertiliser itself, and to produce phosphate fertilisers.
So my advice is to hop on a plane to Fort McMurray and enjoy those Canadian wonders while they last. Pembina Institute. Image source, Science Photo Library. Sulphur is often associated with the smell of rotten eggs. What's going on? Exposure Information You can be exposed to SO2 by breathing it in the air or getting it on your skin.
To reduce the possibility of exposure to sulfur dioxide caused by a source in your home, you can: Use gas appliances with electronic pilotless ignition. This will eliminate the continuous low-level pollutants from pilot lights. Use exhaust fans over gas stoves that are vented to the outdoors instead of fans that recirculate the air indoors. Keep the metal mesh filters on your exhaust fans clean most can be run through the dishwasher.
Choose vented appliances whenever possible, and make sure they are vented to the outdoors. Have a trained professional inspect your appliances annually. Never heat your home with a gas range or stove. Do not idle your car in the garage. Do not smoke indoors. Language Access and Notice of Nondiscrimination.
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