_This is the organizing page for research related to hydrogen sulfide in Public Lab._ (above: [DIY colorimetric strips](/notes/megan/9-7-2012/first-experiment-analyzed) reacting to H2S by @megan) ### What is hydrogen sulfide, what are its effects, and where is it found? Hydrogen sulfide, with the chemical formula H2S, is a flammable gas that has a pungent odor at low concentrations and is odorless at higher concentrations. It can be a respiratory irritant and a neurotoxin. [Read more about hydrogen sulfide health effects](/wiki/hydrogen-sulfide-effects). Hydrogen sulfide is naturally formed in low-oxygen conditions with sulfate present, such as in organic-rich sediments and thus in petrochemical source rocks. Upon exposure to oxygen, hydrogen sulfide readily oxidizes to sulfur dioxide or sulfate, and generally reacts within hours to days. [Read more about hydrogen sulfide sources and spatial and temporal variation](/wiki/hydrogen-sulfide-environment) ### How are hydrogen sulfide emissions and exposures regulated? In the United States, hydrogen sulfide emissions are only federally regulated to the extent that they contribute to sulfur dioxide formation, and thus acid rain. These emissions are regulated through the Prevention of Significant Deterioration of major stationary sources review and permitting. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide is mostly regulated in terms of occupational exposure, with very few states regulating ambient exposure to this toxin. [Read more about hydrogen sulfide regulations](/wiki/hydrogen-sulfide-regulations) ## How can hydrogen sulfide be measured? While there is no federal regulatory method for hydrogen sulfide in the US, labs, agencies, and oilfield workers often measure hydrogen sulfide gas through several different means: * badges or glass tubes that change color * continuously sampling electronic sensors, some worn by oilfield workers * [air grab sampling](/wiki/air-sampling), as by the Bucket Brigades, tested with gas chromatography > We're compiling information about the **pros, cons, prices, and sensitivity/limitations** of these techniques: [What are different commercially available hydrogen sulfide detection methods?](/notes/warren/12-04-2017/what-are-different-commercially-available-hydrogen-sulfide-detection-methods) ## Do-It-Yourself approaches to detection There are three prototype, low-cost hydrogen sulfide detection methods currently being explored by Public Lab community members. These include: * a [method using photographic paper](/wiki/hydrogen-sulfide-photopaper) * a [copper tarnishing method](/wiki/hydrogen-sulfide-copper-pipe) * a technique using a [Do-It-Yourself potentiostat](/notes/JSummers/03-10-2014/quantifying-airborne-hydrogen-sulfide) * commercial [electronic H2S sensors](/wiki/hydrogen-sulfide-sensor) connected to a computer or #arduino > Help out! Please help link the above bullet points to corresponding pages across this site. **** ## Questions We can't make progress on these techniques and resources without addressing our unknowns. Please ask questions to help shape the direction of our work! [questions:hydrogen-sulfide] **** ## Related pages See [other related wiki pages here](https://publiclab.org/wiki/tag/hydrogen-sulfide) **** ## Activities These activities are to guide you to test out hydrogen sulfide detection methods or use these tools in the field: [activities:hydrogen-sulfide] **** ## Where can I find more information? Two particularly good resources are listed below. Other hydrogen sulfide wiki pages (mentioned above) include additional relevant resources. 1. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. 2016. Hydrogen Sulfide Fact Sheet. [https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp114-c1-b.pdf](https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp114-c1-b.pdf). 2. National Research Council. 2010. Acute Exposure Guidelines. [https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-11/documents/hydrogen_sulfide_final_volume9_2010.pdf](https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-11/documents/hydrogen_sulfide_final_volume9_2010.pdf). ...
| Author | Comment | Last activity | Moderation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shannon | "Cool Matthew! One of the things we were worried about was light leaks and how much that would disturb the paper which is light sensitive. We put ho..." | Read more » | over 11 years ago | |||
| eustatic | "what this says, to me, is that height of the canisters is irrelevant in the conditions the test was in. that is the take away for matthew--we can ..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| eustatic | "wait, PEL for SOx is lower? so i shouldn't stick my head in a marsh for a whole week? there go my wetland zazen plans... what we are doing is ..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "Hey Megan, I think that sounds like a great idea. Particularly if you can set up a dark space on site to do the fixing. We should definitely try th..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| megan | "Do you think it would work to just fix them right in the containers, if they were just cut big enough to not overlap, you could dry them in the con..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| eustatic | "https://www.flickr.com/photos/eustatic/tags/plots/ shannon, here's a link to the images, but i transcribed them onto the spreadsheet that i had em..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "Awesome thanks for the ideas, I carefully scrapped away the printers tape so the labels were intact beneath--so all canisters are now accounted for..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| Shannon | "I'm feeling like this is why we had to practice so many word problems all throughout school... Scott... remember the two pieces of paper that I too..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| eustatic | "i had packed them so that they were all grouped together in fours sorry about those labels, those were my fault. next time, will stick to painter..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "Hi Mat, a couple of software developers from an opensource mapping project Rhus are going to try out your detection approach and mapping the result..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| MSGonzales | "Thanks. I did place these myself, but the experiment was conducted just about a year ago. " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| warren | "Hi, Mathew - did you place these strips yourself? Recently? Very cool. " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "oops I accidentally posted that comment twice " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "Hi Matt! Thanks so much for this, I'm emailing this post and the post about our conversation to some of the people working on H2S in the gas patch..." | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "We have marked the L type copper pipes with black tape. " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "as much as possible given we're working in a dark room and so can't use the flash " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "No! Great thought though we'll photo document the process of making batch 2. " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| warren | "did you take any photos? " | Read more » | almost 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "Directions for making the glycerol solution mention here can be found in this research note: Making-glycerol-solution-h2s-film-assay " | Read more » | about 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "I realized none of our notes so far cover how to make the glycerol solution, here is that protocol: 1) Wear plastic gloves and use thongs while ma..." | Read more » | about 12 years ago | |||
| warren | "Wow, so is the attached picture a positive identification of H2S? What does a negative test look like? Do you have any photos of hanging it over a..." | Read more » | about 12 years ago | |||
| mathew | "Sara- there's a chance we can make cheapo glove bags by heat sealing disposable polyethylene gloves for food service into clear trashbags. -what do..." | Read more » | about 12 years ago | |||
| sara | "uncanny! " | Read more » | about 12 years ago | |||
| warren | "I seriously thought that was a picture of someone in a korean hanbok, maybe at a tea ceremony. " | Read more » | about 12 years ago |