How do smelling salts work?

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How do smelling salts work?

You’ve seen them in movies and in old TV shows, where a woman faints, and a husband or police officer or someone gets out the smelling salts to revive her. But what are smelling salts and how exactly do they work? In a nutshell, the secret ingredient is ammonia, and if you’ve ever gotten a good whiff of ammonia, you know that it would wake the dead.

Smelling salts annoy through ammonium carbonate. When mixed with water, this solid compound releases ammonia gas. Ammonia is made when a nitrogen atom hooks up with three hydrogen atoms. The nitrogen makes it a great fertilizer, but ammonia is highly toxic and will attack the lining of the nose and windpipe.

Smelling salts are designed somewhat like glow sticks. When they’re opened, liquid is released into the chemical solids, which in turn release ammonia gas. If the person is slightly faint, the gas irritates them enough so that they come to. If the person is actually unconscious, the lungs will automatically try to clear the nose by breathing in and out more sharply, thus increasing the flow of oxygen to the brain and body and waking the person up.

Via