CBSE Class 11-science Answered

Hydrogen cyanide, sodium cyanide,and potassium cyanide are the forms of cyanide most likely to be in the environment as a resultof industrial activities. Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless gas with a faint, bitter, almond-like odor.Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are both white solids with a slight, bitter, almond-likeodor in damp air. Cyanide salts and hydrogen cyanide are used in electroplating, metallurgy,organic chemicals production, photographic developing, manufacture of plastics, fumigation ofships, and some mining processes. Hydrogen cyanide has also been used in gas-chamberexecutions and as a war gas. Chlorination of water contaminated with cyanide produces thecompound cyanogen chloride.Thiocyanates are a group of compounds formed from a combination of sulfur, carbon, andnitrogen. Thiocyanates are found in various foods and plants; they are produced primarily fromthe reaction of free cyanide with sulfur. This reaction occurs in the environment (for example, inindustrial waste streams that contain cyanide) and in the human body after cyanide is swallowedor absorbed. Thiocyanate is the major product formed from cyanide that passes into the body .Ammonium thiocyanate is used in antibiotic preparations, pesticides, liquid rocket fuels,adhesives, and matches. It also is used in photographic processes, to improve the strength ofsilks, and as a weed killer.