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From: piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: rotten eggs
Message-ID: <1961@pur-phy.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Feb-86 05:03:21 EST
Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1961
Posted: Thu Feb  6 05:03:21 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Feb-86 21:23:14 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., IN
Lines: 12

I believe that the rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide. Yes, it is
a poisonous gas. There is often a lot of sulfur in fossil fuel. This
is true of oil as well as coal. I believe that without the catalysis,
the sulfur is burned to form sulfur oxide. The catalysis causes the
sulfur to combine with hydrogen which is abundant in burning hydrocarbons.
Any chemist out there care to confirm this? The EPA has been trying to
decide what to do about sulfur for a long time. I don't expect anything
to be done until a Democrat gets into the White House however. For the
near future, we will just have to live with it.

					Richard Piner
					piner@pur-phy.UUCP