Will ammonium sulfide ("NH"_4)_2"S"(NH4)2S decompose when heated? What will be the products?

I can't seem to find the reaction formula online.

1 Answer
Feb 16, 2016

Yes it will.

Explanation:

Ammonium sulfide, ("NH"_4)_2"S"(NH4)2S, will indeed decompose upon heating to form ammonia, "NH"_3NH3, and hydrogen sulfide, "H"_2"S"H2S, as main products.

Ammonium sulfide will actually begin to decompose at temperatures as low as room temperature.

("NH"_4)_2"S"_text((s]) stackrel(color(red)(Delta)color(white)(aa))(->) 2"NH"_text(3(g]) + "H"_2"S"_text((g])

I think that the decomposition reaction involves the formation of ammonium hydrogen sulfide, "NH"_4"HS", which then decomposes to form hydrogen sulfide.

You can thus say that you have

("NH"_4)_2"S"_text((s]) stackrel(color(red)(Delta)color(white)(aa))(->) "NH"_text(3(g]) + "NH"_4"HS"_text((s])

which then goes to

"NH"_4"HS"_text((s]) stackrel(color(red)(Delta)color(white)(aa))(->) "NH"_text(3(g]) + "H"_2"S"_text((g])

The overall reaction will once again be

("NH"_4)_2"S"_text((s]) stackrel(color(red)(Delta)color(white)(aa))(->) "NH"_text(3(g]) + color(red)(cancel(color(black)("NH"_4"HS"_text((s]))))
color(red)(cancel(color(black)("NH"_4"HS"_text((s])))) stackrel(color(red)(Delta)color(white)(aa))(->) "NH"_text(3(g]) + "H"_2"S"_text((g])
color(white)(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)/color(white)(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)
("NH"_4)_2"S"_text((s]) stackrel(color(red)(Delta)color(white)(aa))(->) 2"NH"_text(3(g]) + "H"_2"S"_text((g])

Heating ammonium sulfide in the presence of air will also result in the formation of toxic sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides as side products.