Where is sulfur used in everyday life?

In my grandmother’s pantry, I saw a jar of yellow powder. My grandmother told me that this is flammable sulfur, which in the recent past was in every village house. It was used to destroy pests in the garden and in basements, preserving the harvest. I was wondering: -What is sulfur as a simple substance? – For what purpose is it used in everyday life? Problem: People have used sulfur since ancient times as a simple substance to control pests and diseases of cultivated plants. I wanted to know how to use sulfur in my garden. Stages of developing an educational project:

1. Preparatory stage (Identification of the topic, problem, goal, objectives of the project).
2. Research stage (working with literature, conducting research).
3. The final stage (registration of results, defense of the project, reflection).

Purpose of the work: to find out the areas of application of sulfur based on its physical and chemical properties in everyday life, to draw up a reminder about the benefits of colloidal sulfur and its use in the garden.

1. Study information about the physical properties of sulfur and its application.

2. Conduct a social survey “Use of sulfur in everyday life.”

3. Create a model demonstrating the use of sulfur in everyday life.

3. Make generalizations and conclusions.

4. Make a memo “Use of colloidal sulfur on a personal plot.”

Object: colloidal sulfur

Subject: use of colloidal sulfur in everyday life

• theoretical
• statistical
• experimental
• analytical

Hypothesis: if people know about the effects of colloidal sulfur on cultivated plants and how to use it, they will be able to treat the plants they grow in their garden with sulfur, as well as use it in greenhouses and basements to kill pests.

I. Sulfur as a simple substance

1.1. Physical properties of sulfur

Sulfur is a yellow crystalline solid that is insoluble in water. One of the special physical properties of sulfur is flotation, the ability of fine sulfur powder to float, while its large crystals sink in water. The reason is that sulfur is not wetted by water, and its particles remain on the surface of the water due to small air bubbles adhering to them.

In everyday life, colloidal sulfur is used – a specialized preparation that contains from 80 to 95% rhombic sulfur, supplemented with auxiliary substances. Its other name is “cumulus”.

Colloidal sulfur has important chemical properties that facilitate its use in the garden:

• Passivity in the normal state;
• Active interaction with proteins upon contact with the surface of a plant or animal;
• Release of dangerous vapors during the decomposition of the colloid;
• Sulfur compounds do not accumulate in crops and soil.

1.2. Application of sulfur

Sulfur has been known to people since ancient times; it is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey as a cure for ailments. In ancient Egypt, surviving pyramids tell us about the use of sulfur to make paints and cosmetics as early as the second millennium BC. Sulfur was also used by priests for religious rituals.

In Ancient Greece, by burning sulfur, they disinfected rooms and things, and bleached sheets. Sulfur was one of the principles of the “philosopher’s stone”. The use of sulfur increased in the Middle Ages. The Byzantines used it to make “black gunpowder,” and the Russian Empire expanded its use in medicine. They began to fumigate rooms and clothes with sulfur. Pharmacies were created in which sulfur was one of the important components. Sulfur began to fumigate premises and clothing. Pharmacies were created in which sulfur was one of the important ingredients; ointments for skin diseases were made on its basis. A woman smeared sulfur on her breasts to wean her child off breastfeeding.

Nowadays, sulfur is used in industry: the production of carbon disulfide, black powder, sparklers, dyes, and a considerable part of it is used in paper production and agriculture to exterminate pests. Sulfur is used in medicine: it is used to make medicines, ointments for skin diseases, and hydrogen sulfide baths that improve health.

Do you know that .

• Sulfur is the basis of an ointment for the treatment of fungal skin diseases and to combat scabies. Sodium thiosulfate Na 2 S 2 O 3 is used to combat it.
• Iron sulfate FeSO 4 × 7H 2 O is used for anemia.
• BaSO 4 is used for radiographic examination of the stomach and intestines.
• The mineral Na 2 SO 4 × 10H 2 O is called “Glauber’s salt” in honor of the German chemist Glauber, who discovered it in the 2th century, who during his travel suddenly fell ill and his stomach refused to take food. One of the local residents directed him to the source. As soon as he drank the bitter salt water, he immediately began to eat. Glauber examined this water, and the salt Na 4 SO 10 × 2H XNUMX O crystallized out of it. Now it is used as a laxative in medicine, when dyeing cotton fabrics. Salt is used in glass production.
• Garlic releases a substance – albucide, a caustic sulfur compound. This substance prevents cancer, slows down aging, and prevents heart disease.

1.3. Methods of using sulfur in garden plots

Colloidal sulfur is a drug that suppresses various plant diseases (late blight, scab, powdery mildew, gray or red rot, blackleg, cabbage clubroot) and destroys garden pests (mites, especially spider mites). Sulfur compounds do not accumulate in soil and crops.

To combat such undesirable “inhabitants” of the garden plot, three main methods are used: spraying, pollination and fumigation.

Table 1. Methods of using colloidal sulfur.

Spraying with colloidal sulfur is carried out in dry weather, in the morning. Spraying should be carried out on both sides of the leaf at a temperature of +18-+28˚С. Under such conditions, the pathogens of clubroot and powdery mildew die.

Typically, such treatments are planned for the 2nd half of summer.

Spraying is carried out to destroy diseases and pests.

The use of colloidal sulfur in its pure form is unacceptable. This leads to burns or acidification of the soil. For this reason, the mass is mixed with ash or slaked lime.

Pollination is carried out, as a rule, for fruit and berry crops for the treatment of oidium, as well as in the fight against mites.

Fumigation should be carried out in calm weather on a moistened substrate. If fumigation is carried out indoors, it must be sealed and left for 1-2 days, and then ventilated.

Used to combat parasites, insects, infectious diseases, rodents.

When fumigated, sulfur smoke is formed – an excellent tool for treating greenhouses, hotbeds, cellars; it penetrates into the most inaccessible places that cannot be treated by whitewashing, washing or spraying. It is used to combat parasites, insects, rodents, and infectious plant diseases. When deposited on the soil, supporting structures, polycarbonate and glass surfaces, sulfur compounds are almost 100% guaranteed to destroy pathogens that are dangerous to plants. Inhaling sulfur vapors instantly kills rodents and insects.

Chapter 2. Experimental part

1. Results of a sociological survey

In order to identify the views of fellow villagers on the use of sulfur in everyday life, I conducted a sociological survey. 60 people were interviewed, who can be divided into three age groups.

For the first question: “Do you know about the use of sulfur in everyday life?”, the following results were obtained:

Sulfur – a mineral from the class of native elements. Sulfur is an example of a well-defined enantiomorphic polymorphism. In nature it forms 2 polymorphic modifications: a-orthorhombic sulfur and b-monoclinic sulfur. At atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 95,6°C, a-sulfur transforms into b-sulfur. Sulfur is vital for the growth of plants and animals; it is part of living organisms and their decomposition products; there is a lot of it, for example, in eggs, cabbage, horseradish, garlic, mustard, onions, hair, wool, etc. It is also present in coals and oil.

1. Structure
2. Materials
3. Morphology
4. Origin
5. Application
6. Classification
7. physical properties
8. Optical properties
9. Crystallographic properties

STRUCTURE

Crystal structure and two systems of sulfur

Native sulfur is usually represented by a-sulfur, which crystallizes in the rhombic system, rhombic-dipyramidal type of symmetry. Crystalline sulfur has two modifications; one of them, orthorhombic, is obtained from a solution of sulfur in carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) by evaporating the solvent at room temperature. In this case, diamond-shaped translucent crystals of light yellow color are formed, easily soluble in CS 2. This modification is stable up to 96°C; at higher temperatures the monoclinic form is stable. With the natural cooling of molten sulfur in cylindrical crucibles, large crystals of the orthorhombic modification with a distorted shape (octahedra with corners or faces partially “cut off”) grow. This material is called lump sulfur in industry. The monoclinic modification of sulfur is long transparent dark yellow needle-shaped crystals, also soluble in CS 2. When monoclinic sulfur is cooled below 96° C, a more stable yellow orthorhombic sulfur is formed.

PROPERTIES

Native sulfur is yellow in color, in the presence of impurities it is yellow-brown, orange, brown to black; contains inclusions of bitumen, carbonates, sulfates, and clay. Crystals of pure sulfur are transparent or translucent, solid masses are translucent at the edges. The gloss is resinous to greasy. Hardness 1-2, no cleavage, conchoidal fracture. Density 2,05 -2,08 g/cm 3, fragile. Easily soluble in Canada balsam, turpentine and kerosene. Insoluble in HCl and H 2 SO 4. HNO 3 and aqua regia oxidize sulfur, turning it into H 2 SO 4. Sulfur differs significantly from oxygen in its ability to form stable chains and cycles of atoms.
The most stable are cyclic molecules S8, which have the shape of a crown, forming orthorhombic and monoclinic sulfur. This is crystalline sulfur – a brittle yellow substance. In addition, molecules with closed (S 4 , S 6 ) chains and open chains are possible. This composition has plastic sulfur, a brown substance, which is obtained by sharp cooling of molten sulfur (plastic sulfur becomes brittle after a few hours, acquires a yellow color and gradually turns into rhombic). The formula for sulfur is most often written simply S, since, although it has a molecular structure, it is a mixture of simple substances with different molecules.
The melting of sulfur is accompanied by a noticeable increase in volume (approximately 15%). Molten sulfur is a yellow, easily mobile liquid, which above 160 °C turns into a very viscous dark brown mass. The sulfur melt acquires the highest viscosity at a temperature of 190 °C; a further increase in temperature is accompanied by a decrease in viscosity and above 300 °C the molten sulfur again becomes mobile. This is because when sulfur is heated, it gradually polymerizes, increasing the length of the chain as the temperature increases. When sulfur is heated above 190 °C, the polymer units begin to collapse.
Sulfur can serve as the simplest example of an electret. When rubbed, sulfur acquires a strong negative charge.

MORPHOLOGY

Forms truncated-bipyramidal, less often bipyramidal, pinacoidal or thick-prismatic crystals, as well as dense cryptocrystalline, confluent, granular, and less often fine-fibrous aggregates. The main forms in crystals: dipyramids (111) and (113), prisms (011) and (101), pinacoid (001). Also intergrowths and druses of crystals, skeletal crystals, pseudostalactites, powdery and earthy masses, deposits and adhesives. Crystals are characterized by multiple parallel intergrowths.

ORIGIN

Sulfur is formed during volcanic eruptions, during the weathering of sulfides, during the decomposition of gypsum-bearing sedimentary strata, and also in connection with the activity of bacteria. The main types of native sulfur deposits are volcanogenic and exogenous (chemogenic-sedimentary). Exogenous deposits predominate; they are associated with gypsum anhydrites, which, under the influence of hydrocarbon and hydrogen sulfide emissions, are reduced and replaced by sulfur-calcite ores. All major deposits have such infiltration-metasomatic genesis. Native sulfur is often formed (except for large accumulations) as a result of the oxidation of H 2 S. The geochemical processes of its formation are significantly activated by microorganisms (sulfate-reducing and thione bacteria). Associated minerals are calcite, aragonite, gypsum, anhydrite, celestine, and sometimes bitumen. Among the volcanogenic deposits of native sulfur, the main ones are hydrothermal-metasomatic (for example, in Japan), formed by sulfur-bearing quartzites and opalites, and volcanogenic-sedimentary sulfur-bearing silts of crater lakes. It is also formed during fumarole activity. Formed under the conditions of the earth’s surface, native sulfur is still not very stable and, gradually oxidizing, gives rise to sulfates, ch. like plaster.
Used in the production of sulfuric acid (about 50% of the extracted amount). In 1890, Hermann Frasch proposed smelting sulfur underground and extracting it to the surface through wells, and currently sulfur deposits are developed mainly by smelting native sulfur from underground layers directly at its location. Sulfur is also found in large quantities in natural gas (in the form of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide); during gas production, it is deposited on the walls of pipes, rendering them inoperable, so it is recovered from the gas as quickly as possible after production.

APPLICATION

Sulfur is part of the match head

Approximately half of the sulfur produced is used in the production of sulfuric acid. Sulfur is used for vulcanization of rubber, as a fungicide in agriculture and as colloidal sulfur – a medicinal product. Also, sulfur in sulfur bitumen compositions is used to produce sulfur asphalt, and as a substitute for Portland cement to produce sulfur concrete. Sulfur is used in the production of pyrotechnic compositions, was previously used in the production of gunpowder, and is used for the production of matches.

Sulfur (eng. Sulfur) – S

Molecular weight	32.06 g / mol
Origin of the name	Latin sulfur (derived from the Hellenized spelling of the etymological sulpur) presumably goes back to the Indo-European root *swelp – “to burn”
IMA status	valid, first described before 1959 (before IMA)

CLASSIFICATION

Strunz (8th edition)	1/B.03-10
Nickel-Strunz (10th edition)	1.CC.05
Dana (7th edition)	1.3.4.1
Dana (8th edition)	1.3.5.1
Hey’s CIM Ref.	1.51

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Mineral color	yellow, sulfur yellow, brownish or greenish yellow, orange, white
Line color	colorless
Transparency	transparent, translucent
Brilliance	tarry, greasy
Cleavage	imperfect by, and
Hardness (Mohs scale)	1.5 – 2.5
Kink	uneven, conchoidal
Strength	very fragile
separateness	separately by
Density (measured)	2.07 g/cm 3
Radioactivity (GRapi)	0

OPTICAL PROPERTIES

Type	biaxial (+)
Refractive indices	nα = 1.958 nβ = 2.038 nγ = 2.245
Maximum birefringence	d = 0.287
Optical relief	very tall
Pleochroism	visible
Diffusion	relatively weak r
Luminescence in ultraviolet radiation	not fluorescent

CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES

Point group	mmm (2/m 2/m 2/m) – rhombic-bipyramidal
Space group	Fddd
Syngonia	Rhombic (orthorhombic)
Cell Options	a = 10.468Å, b = 12.870Å, c = 24.49Å
Twinning	Doubles in , , are quite rare