Today my chemistry class was dealing with Copper Chloride. It says on the bottle that its toxic and if you breath it in its harmful. Before knowing what it was my group was looking at it and i'm not sure if the lid was off but I'm wondering how close do you have to be to actually inhale it and get sick? i never held the bottle nor was it stuck in my face. It probably was 2 feet away from me at distance or even more. (also i am not coughing or wearing). Im probably just worrying. and then after a couple people said they got the Copper Chloride on them they just brushed it on their pants or washed it off with a little water even though it says to wash your hands throughly and if it gets on you to even go into a emergency shower. I never touched. How dangerous is it really?
Copper(II) chloride MSDS Potential Health Effects Eye: Causes eye irritation. Skin: Causes skin irritation. May be harmful if absorbed through the skin. Ingestion: May cause irritation of the digestive tract. Toxic if swallowed. Inhalation: Causes respiratory tract irritation. May be harmful if inhaled. There would have had to have been a cloud of the copper(II) chloride dust in the air for you to breathe to be a problem. Handling it with your bare skin could be a problem. It isn't a gas, nor does it turn into a gas, so if you are simply near it it while in a bottle, even if its an open bottle, won't hurt you.
