Who would’ve ever guessed that doing something as simple as cleaning your bathroom could be dangerous when mixing the wrong cleaning products? For me and my family, we have always cleaned our own house instead of having a cleaning lady, and it never occurred to me that mixing cleaning products could be a very bad idea. So of course when my little brother called me today to talk about his day at school and to tell me that mixing bleach and Windex could possibly kill me or any human, I didn’t believe him. There have been several times when I doubted my brother and ended up being wrong, so I figured that I should look into his claim.
Of course my brother ended up being right, so I’ll give him credit for this blog- thanks Sean. I actually found out that mixing bleach and ammonia, which is a major chemical in Windex, is extremely dangerous. When the two are mixed there are three dangerous possible results. Depending on the amount of bleach and /or windex you combine, chlorine gas, nitrogen trichloride, or hydrazine will be your result. All three substances are extremely dangerous.
Chloride gas can cause severe pain and can even result in death when inhaled. When in the presence of chloride gas, one’s eyes will begin to burn and obliterate the cells within your nose, throat, and lungs. If exposed for a long enough time, the chloride gas can result in death because of all the damage done to one’s respiratory system.
Nitrogen trichloride occurs when one mixes mostly bleach and a bit of ammonia. Nitrogen trichloride is exceedingly explosive. Any type of near by heat source, light source or electric shock is just enough for a violent explosion to occur. Nitrogen trichloride explosions are capable of taking one’s fingers, eyes, or vision. Even if the mixture didn’t explode, the chemicals produced by nitrogen trichloride are still able to damage mucus membranes and cause one’s eyes to tear as a result of the pain.
The third hazardous chemical made by bleach and ammonia is hydrazine. Hydrazine is a major element used in rocket fuel. Hydrazine is similar to nitrogen chloride when it comes to explosives. Hydrazine is the chemical reaction of mixing mostly ammonia and some bleach. In the past, there have been records of hydrazine being ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. The result of this dangerous chemical coming in contact with one’s body is violent. Symptoms of any type of contact with hydrazine includes “burning sensation of the eyes; irritation of the skin, nose, or throat; dizziness; nausea; blindness; kidney damage; convulsions; and a host of other side effects. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found hydrazine to cause cancer in animals.” (1).
After conducting some research about the mixing bleach and ammonia and the harmful chemicals and effect it gives off, I’m ecstatic that I never accidentally combined bleach and ammonia during the several years I’ve helped keep the house clean. l’ve also decided not to question my little brother’s intelligence anymore.
Resources:
(1) http://chem.answers.com/experiments/why-not-to-combine-ammonia-and-bleach
http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchemicals/a/Mixing-Bleach-And-Ammonia.htm
Your story reminds me of an incident I had at work this summer. I worked at a Panera Bread and everyday we had to mop the floors. One day we had a relatively new person working and he almost wound up seriously harming all of us. Our cleaning supplies are a premixed solution but apparently we had run out so he decided to make some of his own. Our manger stopped him from creating a huge chemical reaction by asking what he was doing with both ammonia and bleach. As you can probably guess he didn’t last very long. But it’s amazing how few people are aware of such a potentially dangerous topic, don’t be embarrassed you are definitely not alone.
This is very good to know. It is scary because cleaning a bathroom with those normal household chemicals is such a simple, mindless task. After reading your post I can see how negative of a reaction different chemicals can have when combined incorrectly. I feel like cleaning products should start doing a better job labeling their bottles with what their product should not be mixed with. This could really benefit a lot of people and keep everyone more safe.
I have encountered a reaction with hazardous chemicals! Over the summer I was a pool manager at a neighborhood pool when one fateful day one of my lifeguards called me to inform me of a chlorine leak in the pump room. Chlorine is seemingly harmless because we use it in a lot of daily products, and of course it’s a chemical we use in pools. Well I went to the pump room and the whole floor was covered with chlorine bleach. I spent two hours trying to mop it up, only to find myself in the hospital. In pools chlorine is used with muriatic acid to keep the pool clean, but when the pure substances mix it produces mustard gas! Here’s an article on more hazardous household chemicalshere