LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sulfur: Sulfur Dioxide
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Sulfur is a mineral naturally occurring near hot springs and volcanic craters. The "rotten egg" smell of sulfur mineral baths is caused by sulfur dioxide gas escaping into the air. Sulfur has been used medicinally since ancient times, and it is contained in every cell in your body. It is a component of three different amino acids (the building blocks that make up protein). Approximately 0.25 percent of your total body weight is sulfur. It is most concentrated in keratin, which gives you strong hair, nails, and skin.
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Sulfur trioxide (SO3) is a planar molecule that is a liquid at room temperature that exists in equilibrium with a cyclic trimeric structure known as β-SO3. When β-SO3, actually S3O9, is treated with traces of water, it converts to either of two polymeric forms referred to as γ- and α-sulfur trioxide. These are fibrous materials, proposed to have the formula (SO3)xH2, where x is in the thousands. Sulfur trioxide is prepared by the oxidation of sulfur dioxide, although at very high temperatures this reaction reverses. Exposure of sulfur trioxide to water yields sulfuric acid (H2SO4); exposure of SO3 to sulfuric acid yields disulfuric acid (H2S2O7). See ... Sulfuric acid.
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Sulfur dioxide ... interacts with NOx to form nitric and sulfuric acids, commonly known as acid rain, which damages forests and acidifies soil and waterways. Harvard School of Public Health studies have shown that SO2 emissions from power plants significantly harm the cardiovascular and respiratory health of people who live near the plants. According to EPA studies, fine particle pollution from power plants results in thousands of premature deaths each year Nitrogen oxide is tied to ground-level ozone, which is especially harmful to children and people with respiratory problems such as asthma. Ground-level ozone is formed when NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react in sunlight. NOx also reacts with ammonia, moisture, and other compounds to form fine particle pollution, which damages lung tissue and is linked to premature death. Small particles penetrate deeply into sensitive parts of the lungs and can cause or worsen respiratory disease such as emphysema and bronchitis, and aggravate heart disease.
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Sulfur forms some 16 oxygen-bearing acids. Only four or five of them... have been prepared in the pure state. These acids, particularly sulfurous acid and sulfuric acid, are of considerable importance to the chemical industry. Sulfurous acid, H2SO3, is produced when sulfur dioxide is added to water. Its most important salt is sodium sulfite, Na2SO3, a reducing agent employed in the manufacture of paper pulp, in photography, and in the removal of oxygen from boiler feedwater. Sulfuric acid (q.v.) is one of the most valuable of all chemicals.
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Sulfur dioxide is used in paper-making and other chemical processes as a bleaching agent. It is formed as the first step in the production of sulfuric acid, which has very wide applications. Fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, can contain sulfur from trace amounts to a few percent and the combustion of these fuels results in emissions of sulfur dioxide. The only fossil fuel which can contain little or practically no sulfur is natural gas.
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Sulfur dioxide is released into the atmosphere in the combustion of fossil fuels, such as gas, petroleum, and coal, and constitutes one of the most troublesome air pollutants. The concentration of sulfur dioxide in air may range from 0.01 to several parts per million, and it may be responsible for the decay of buildings and monuments, for acid rain, and for human discomfort and disability. See Air Pollution.
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Sulfur Dioxide