What Is White Ammonia?

What Is Ammonia?

• Ammonia is a strong-smelling, irritating gas that contains one atom of nitrogen and three atoms of hydrogen bound tightly together. Exposure to ammonia gas can cause eye, throat and skin burns. Children’s lung can be damaged by exposure to ammonia fumes, according to the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center website. It is both manufactured and occurs naturally in the environment. Eighty percent of the ammonia that is produced is used in agricultural fertilizer.

White Ammonia

• Ammonia in many of its forms produces a white color. Most people are familiar with common household ammonia, which has a cloudy, white color. Household ammonia is manufactured by dissolving ammonia gas in water. Household ammonia is between five and 10 percent ammonia. Solutions with higher percentages of ammonia gas are available for industrial use. Other forms of ammonia also tend to be white, unless mixed with other ingredients that introduce other colors to the compound.

Forms of Ammonia

• Anhydrous ammonia is ammonia without water in it. It is a colorless gas with a pungent odor. In its liquid form under pressure, it freezes moisture in the air, creating a white smoke, according to the R. M. Technologies website. Ammonium nitrate is another form of ammonia. This compound is a white, crystalline powder that is used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer and as an oxidizing agent in explosives. Ammonium sulfate, which is also a white powder, is used as a fertilizer and in the electroplating industry.

An Unusual Form of Ammonia

• One form of ammonia you may not know is a form often called hartshorn. Hartshorn is a common name for ammonium carbonate, which is yet another white ammonia powder. It is used as a leavening agent, often in place of baking powder, in some old-fashioned cookie recipes. It is activated by heat instead of moisture, according to the What’sCookingAmerica website. Your kitchen will smell like ammonia while the cookies bake, but no ammonia taste will be evident. Ammonium carbonate should not be allowed contact with eyes or skin and should not be inhaled.