Dawn,
Sulfur (sulphur in British English) can be found almost everywhere.
It is an essential component for life, and there is sulfur in almost
all biological products.
What matter most for the purposes of the questions you have is the
chemical form of the sulfur. This can be easily appreciated as the
difference between the sulfur in sulfuric acid and the sulfur that is
found relatively high concentration in the protein that makes up your
hair.
Sulfur is indeed found in (natural) rubber compounds--it is the
addition of sulfur to rubber that is essential to the "vulcanization"
process that makes rubber the useful stuff that it is.
Sulfates are generically the class of chemical compound which contain
SO4 (that is, one sulfur atom and 4 oxygen atoms) as an ion (sulfuric
acid, lead sulfate, sodium laurel sulfate {in your shampoo} etc.);
Sufites contain the SO3 ion--they are used as food preservatives and
allergies to sulfites are relatively common.
Sulfides contain sulfur as a negatively charged ion.
Latex allergies are allergies to the proteins that are found in
latex, which is made from the sap of the rubber tree..
Sulfur might be found in the linings of your instrument case
depending on what material is used. Sufides are pretty reactive, and
will cause corrosion of metal. The tarnish you see on metal can
include copper or nickel sufates.
That's probably more chemistry than you really care about.
Carlisle
On Jul 30, 2008, at 12:09 PM, Dawn McCandless wrote:
What all has sulpher in it? Do they use sulpher in rubber
compounds? I am allergic to sulphates in medicines. I also have a
latex allergy. Is it possible that the latex allergy is really the
sulphers, if any, inbedded in the latex?
Is there sulpher in the linings of instrument cases? I had noticed
quite a few years ago that lining the case of silver plated
instruments with 100% cotton flannel keeps them from tarnishing as
quickly as they do if they are just in the case with the factory
made linings. I used old flannel shirts that were too worn to wear
any more since it saved money from buying new flannel.
DMM
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