20 The acidic environment

Material Safety Data Sheets MSDS

A hazardous substance is one which has the potential to harm the healthof people. By law manufacturers and suppliers of a hazardous substanceare required to provide a material safety data sheet (MSDS). The MSDSof a chemical contains risk and safety information about the propertiesand uses of the substance.

A MSDS for the alkali sodium hydroxide is shown in the Appendix.

Exercise 2.1 requires you to read the MSDS in the Appendix and answerquestions using the information supplied in the MSDS. Now could be asuitable time for you to do this exercise.

When you do not have access to a MSDS:

READ THE LABEL

and

HEED THE LABEL

for any chemical that you are going to use.

It is very important that you are mentally prepared with knowledge andunderstanding of a hazardous substance before you physically use it.

MSDSs can be accessed at a number of web sites.

Try to find a web site supplying MSDSs for:

• sulfur dioxide SO2

• nitrogen monoxide NO

• nitrogen dioxide NO2

by using a search engine such as www.google.com orwww.northernlight.com.

Record the address of any suitable web site.

If you cannot find a suitable source of MSDSs go towww.lpmc.edu.au/science and look at links provided for this module.