Editing Arsine (section)

==General properties==
In its standard state arsine is a colorless, denser-than-air gas that is slightly soluble in [[water (molecule)|water]] (2% at 20&nbsp;°C)<ref name=PGCH/> and in many [[organic solvent]]s as well.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} Arsine itself is odorless,<ref name="chemagents">{{cite book|last1=Greaves|first1=Ian|last2=Hunt|first2=Paul|chapter=Ch. 5 Chemical Agents|year=2010|pages=233–344|title=Responding to Terrorism. A Medical Handbook|isbn=978-0-08-045043-8|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-045043-8.00005-2|quote=While arsine itself is odourless, its oxidation by air may produce a slight, garlic-like scent. However, it is lethal in concentrations far lower than those required to produce this smell.}}</ref> but it oxidizes in air and this creates a slight [[garlic]] or fish-like scent when the compound is present above 0.5{{nbsp}}[[parts per million|ppm]].<ref name="ATSDR">{{cite web|url=http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MMG/MMG.asp?id=1199&tid=278 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124020653/http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MMG/MMG.asp?id=1199&tid=278 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2012 |title=Medical Management Guidelines for Arsine (AsH<sub>3</sub>) |publisher=Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry}}</ref> This compound is kinetically stable: at room temperature it decomposes only slowly. At temperatures of ca. 230&nbsp;°C, decomposition to arsenic and hydrogen is sufficiently rapid to be the basis of the [[Marsh test]] for arsenic presence. Similar to [[stibine]], the decomposition of arsine is autocatalytic, as the arsenic freed during the reaction acts as a catalyst for the same reaction.<ref name="Hartman">{{cite book|last=Hartman|first=Robert James|title=Colloid Chemistry|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=1947|editor-last=Briscoe|editor-first=Herman Thompson|edition=2|pages=124}}</ref> Several other factors, such as [[humidity]], presence of light and certain [[catalyst]]s (namely [[alumina]]) facilitate the rate of decomposition.<ref name="INRS">{{cite report |author= Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité |title= Fiche toxicologique nº 53: Trihydrure d'arsenic |date= 2000 |url= http://www.inrs.fr/inrs-pub/inrs01.nsf/IntranetObject-accesParReference/FT%2053/$File/ft53.pdf |access-date= 2006-09-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061126045357/http://www.inrs.fr/inrs-pub/inrs01.nsf/IntranetObject-accesParReference/FT%2053/$FILE/ft53.pdf |archive-date= 2006-11-26 |url-status = dead |language=fr}}</ref>

AsH<sub>3</sub> is a [[trigonal pyramidal molecular geometry|trigonal pyramidal]] molecule with H–As–H angles of 91.8° and three equivalent As–H bonds, each of 1.519 [[Ångström|Å]] length.<ref>{{cite journal
| journal= The Journal of Chemical Physics
| issue= 12
| volume= 20
| date= 1952
| pages= 1955–1956
| doi= 10.1063/1.1700347
| title= The Molecular Structure of Arsine
| last= Nielsen |first=H. H.
| bibcode= 1952JChPh..20.1955N
}}</ref>