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Cyanide: All about cyanide

What is cyanide?
Cyanide is a chemical compound that consist of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). It exist in different forms, so we can say; sodium cyanide, hydrogen cyanide, potassium cyanide and others.
Most of these variants (forms of cyanide) are poisonous, that in can cause death within minutes.
The origin of cyanide, started from the fact that a huge number of Nazi uses the potassium cyanide suicide pills to kill themselves during the World War II.
The most dangerous form of cyanide is the hydrogen cyanide, which is in the form of gas; and is deadly when inhaled.

Uses of cyanide 
Despite the horrible fact of cyanide as  a poison, cyanide has its own importance as it is useful.  The uses of cyanide include:
I. It is used in industrial chemistry, in the production of nylon.
II. It is used for pest control, bring the key ingredient in the poison used to kill animals, such as rats and other rodents.
III. It is used in the mining of golds and silver, to be able to dissolve these elements so that they can easily be refined.

Chemical combination of cyanide 
A cyanide contains the group C\(\equiv\)N, which is known as a cyano group, consisting of a carbon triple-bonded with nitrogen. The IUPAC cyanide is "cyanide" with chemical formula \({CN}^-\). The cyanide have a molar mass of \({26.02gmol}^{-1}\).
The inorganic cyanide, are present as the anion \({CN}^-\), and contains the cyanide salts.  These cyanide salts are sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide. The acidification of these cyanide salt produces the hydrocyanide acid (or called the hydrogen cyanide).
Organic cyanide are called "nitriles". For nitriles, the cyano group is linked by a convalent bond to carbon.  Nitriles occur naturally as cyanohydrins, which is known as hydrogen cyanide.

How cyanide acts in the human body? 
Cyanide enters the blood stream immediately after exposure.  The body system, can handle small amount of cyanide rather than large amount. If small amount of cyanide is taking into the body, it changes to thiocynate, which is excreted as urine. In the body, cyanide combines with another chemical to form vitamine \(B_{12}\) which is helpful for monitoring healthy nerve and red blood cell. In large dose, cyanide prevent cells from using oxygen,  and eventually these cells die. In this case, the heart, respiratory system and nervous system are exposed to cyanide poisoning.

Symptoms of cyanide poisoning 
The early symptoms of cyanide poison inclide:

  1. Dizziness 
  2. Fast heart rate 
  3. Shortness of breath 
  4. Vomiting 
After the above symptoms have been found, late symptoms may follow, these include:

  1. Seizures 
  2. Slow heart rate 
  3. Low blood pressure 
  4. Loss of consciousness 
  5. Cardiac arrest 
If a person survives cyanide poison, there may be a long-term neurological problem.

Treatment 
If a person have been suspected with cyanide toxicity, he should be administered cyanide antidotes.
The cyanide antidote are:

  1. Hydroxocobalamin (cyanokit) 
  2. Sodium thiosulfate
  3. Sodium nitrite (nithiodote) 
Note: On no condition, should someone wait for a medical test report before applying cyanide antidotes to someone dying of cyanide. This is because the cyanide poison kills faster in a matter of minutes.
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