Also termed sodium hyposulfite or hypo, this inorganic salt enjoys a central role in photography because of its usefulness in dissolving silver salts during development of film emulsions. Sodium thiosulfate is also heavily employed in the tanning industry and as a chemical intermediate or reagent for the synthesis of other, more complex, chemicals.

Produced chiefly from side products generated during manufacture of sodium sulfide and sulfur dyes, sodium thiosulfate can also be synthesized from sodium carbonate, sulfur dioxide, and sulfur by a multi-step process. As a pharmaceutical agent, sodium thiosulfate is useful in the treatment of early stages of active rheumatoid arthritis and is also utilized to treat lupus erythmatosus. The most important medicinal application, however, is as an antidote to cyanide poisoning. Sodium thiosulfate has a formula weight of 248.17 and is very soluble in water, but insoluble in ethanol.

BACK TO LOES MODDERMAN GALLERY

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

Photomicrographs are © 2000-2022 by Loes Modderman.
All Rights Reserved under copyright law.

© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Last modification: Friday, Nov 13, 2015 at 01:18 PM

Access Count Since February 15, 2002: 13633

Microscopes provided by: