Acid. Strong acid.

For all the science nerds... An acid/base that comes in small white balls (couple of mm across) and when added to water causes a strong exothermic reaction. What is it?

I remember doing it in A2 chemistry but can't remember what it was.
 
Handling acids was the single worst thing I ever had to do in Chemistry.

My hands are far too precious to be anywhere near that stuff, KEEP IT THE FUDGE AWAY FROM ME!!!
 
Amp34 said:
For all the science nerds... An acid/base that comes in small white balls (couple of mm across) and when added to water causes a strong exothermic reaction. What is it?

I remember doing it in A2 chemistry but can't remember what it was.
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Off the shelf in supermarkets would be Caustic Soda. Don't mix in a plastic bucket! Tends to make it go a bit soft, though mine never melted (B&Q builders bucket)
 
Energize said:
Pretty much every powerful acid/base in existence?
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But the fact it was in little balls suggests that it was almost certainly sodium hydroxide.

And if my H&S lecture seemed a little less light-hearted, it was because many people don't seem to take strong corrosives seriously until they get burned by them. We're certainly not talking cartoon-like dissolving into a pool of slime in seconds, but a spillage on your skin will hurt quite a lot if you don't wash it off quickly. Caustics are more dangerous because they don't (often, at least) hurt initially, just feel a bit "soapy". There's a feeling often afoot in these (and other) forums that you know something, then everyone must knot it as well. Well, some people really don't know how dangerous some of these things are, as many schools don't let children near them these days.


M
 
OCdude said:
In other acid (okay it's actually alkaline) related news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555

:0
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Body tissue is dissolved and the liquid poured into the municipal water system.
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svomit_100-121.gif
 
Never had any real probes handling acids / bases, we were always warned to wear gloves (nobody ever did) and not get in on your skin etc.

Got conc HCL and other stuff on my hands all the time and never had any problems, gave up washing it off asap in the end cos its didn't do much (small spashes / drops)

Worst thing was for a joke decided to sniff a bottle of acid and got an instant nose bleed, got a pretty good laugh though but wouldn't recommend it.

Me and a friend decided to clean his blocked toilet with something like Mr Muscle unblocker and it worked so well it cleaned the dirt that was keeping the pipe watertight, so it flooded to flat below with toilet water lol
 
i got conc sulphuric on my face and a drop on my hand once.
cue a mad dash to the tap to wash it off my chin (it gets very hot and very painful very quickly).
so busy washing my face i forgot about the drop on my wrist and by the time a washed it off i had a neat little hole!
 
The official IUPAC spelling is sulfur.

As for strong acids..."magic acid" is so strong it can protonate methane to form CH5+. Now that's saying something!
 
I recall working for the CAA back in '79-'80 in Aviation House in Kingsway. The contract cleaner had heard of this acid-for-cleaning-khazis lark, so bunged some down the first floor urinals. Whatever the pipes were made from didn't like that one bit - neither did the umpteen-million pounds worth of room-sized computers down on the ground floor which got drenched in acid and stale urine :D
 
The Yankee spelling and pronunciation of Aluminium is completely retarded.

In addition, if anyone IS going to go to their local plumbing merchants and get One Shot, be BLOODY careful.

This stuff is not a joke, and even experienced plumbers are very, very careful with the stuff.

It only takes one small mistake, to drop it, or spill it, and you have a very big problem very quickly.

It can even set certain types of wood on fire as they get so hot when being eaten by the acid.

Plus whatever you do, DON'T just dump the entire bottle down the drain, ease it in slowly and listen to hear how its doing as it goes along the pipes.

If if doesnt clear the blockage and you have dumped 1L of ultra strong acid, you are taking a huge risk if you start using a plunger afterwards to try and get things to move along.
 
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