What is Air Sensitivity Earth's atmosphere is composed of air which comprises of nitrogen(78%), oxygen(21%) with a small percentage of carbon dioxide, water vapor and other various components[1]. However, many of the organometallic(chemical compounds which contains at least one chemical bond between a metal and carbon atom, including, alkaline earth, alkaline and transition metals, additionally,it may also include metalloids like tin, boron and silicon sometimes) compounds encountered in chemistry are sensitive towards oxygen and moisture. Being a highly explosive compounds, they should be isolated from the environment and handled carefully. Some of the common examples are pyrophoric compounds and chemicals which react violently with water. Pyrophoric Compound Pyrophoric chemicals are solids and liquids that have the ability to spontaneously ignite in air at temperatures of 54 degree Celsius or below. They often also possess properties of peroxide forming, water reactive and corrosive. Improper and careless use of these materials may results in many devastating effects such as research labs being shut-down to deal with the damaged lab equipment and after effects of fires, in some of the worse cases injury and even death. The best way to work with these harmful chemicals is to work in a completely closed container or bench top with the utilization of gloves, such a device is called Glove box. Dry box(glove box) can provide a limited protection from these explosive compounds. Moreover, these boxes comprises of a huge aluminium chamber which are additionally attached with a pair of gloves for the purpose of usage. An antechamber regulates the entry and exits of things that are introduced to the main chamber. The gas in the box is constantly circulated to remove extra air and water that are present inside the box by scrubber which is also called as catalyst. In addition, the pressure regulator is set to tolerate only few millibars of the pressure.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Air Properties Definitions". www.grc.nasa.gov.
  2. ^ Wipf, Dr. P (30 August 2015). techniques of handling air sensitivity compound (PDF).