Page 114 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

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H
H
Cl - N
H
H

OTHER NAMES:
Ammonium muriate;
sal ammoniac;
salmiac
FORMULA:
NH 4 Cl
ELEMENTS: Ammonium Chloride
Nitrogen, hydrogen,
chlorine
COMPOUND TYPE:
Inorganic salt
OVERVIEW
STATE: KE
Ammonium chloride (uh-MOH-ni-um KLOR-ide) occurs
Solid
as odorless white crystals with a cool, salt-like taste.
Y
The compound is of interest to historians of chemistry
53.49 g/mol as being one of the first chemicals mentioned by ancient
MOLECULAR WEIGHT: F
scholars and the first compound of ammonia to have been
A

340 C (640 F; discovered. For example, the Roman philosopher Pliny
MELTING POINT: C
sublimes at melting T the Elder (23–79 CE) wrote about a substance he called
point) S hammoniacus sal that appears to have been ammonium
chloride. The problem is that various authorities used the
BOILING POINT:
term sal ammoniac for a variety of materials that were
Not applicable
clearly different from each other. No one really knew the
SOLUBILITY: compound’s actual chemical composition until 1700, when
Soluble in water;
it was discovered by the French botanist Joseph Tournefort
slightly soluble in
(1656-1708). In any case, sal ammoniac was an important raw
alcohol; insoluble in
material in early industrial operations, including primarily
most organic solvents
dyeing and metallurgical operations.
Sal ammoniac is also the name of the mineral form of
ammonium chloride. The mineral occurs only rarely in
CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS 63