DougBrummell

Anyone who honestly thinks that that comment is witty, clever, or even humorous should consider the irony in even saying it.

ok well now YT, Wikipedia (from which my Dutch comment was drawn), my teacher, and yourself have all told me different things. . . so here is my conclusion. . . pH means what level of ouch an acid or a base is.

"The concept was introduced by S.P.L. Sørensen in 1909, and is purported to mean "pondus hydrogenii" in Dutch." Then it goes on to say most people now associate it with yours. Thanks for the catch on the ro, lying ass chemisty teacher.

tell me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that pH wasn't actually pH, but rather ro (greek symbol) H, and it is the negative log of the H+ concentration, oppositely there is pOH. . . it just seems as though the ro evolved into a p to most people/institutions.

The drain cleaner i bought is mixed with some sort of charcoal like substance. Any ideas of a good filter that wont be completely attacked by the sulfuric acid. Thanks, Doug

Now the matter of the sulfuric. . .I went to the biggest hardware store in the county today and had no luck finding any, only drain cleaners, but they were poisoned with buffers and heat-reducing agents, all of which I assume would hamper my denitrification of the KNO3, which I still haven't found. Is my assumption that the buffers, etc would cause issues in distilling my acid? Can they be purified? Where else could I get some? Thanks, Doug

My grandpa has been between a nursing home and a hospital for nearing a year. He has been diagnosed with nearly every neurological deterioration disorder imaginable, and no single diagnosis has gone unaltered for more than a few months. Quite sadly, he is in all likelihood going to pass within a week or two. My question is actually that of my father: he found out that on the staff at the home had replaced his diabetic food on his feeding tube with regular. His blood sugar recently soared through the roof and I am at the moment assuming that is the reason. Anyways, his question is whether or not the mistakenly switching the food could be the major contributor to his downward turn. Thank you, Doug

okay, heres the deal as far as i can see it. . . you should see a psychologist. . .no really, i do and i have plenty of friends and girls and whatnot, as far as im concerned everyone should. they are a great person to talk to even if it just allows you to "converse with yourself". next, if a girl is less talkative or different around her friends, that is normal, welcome to women. if she is drastically different, even mean to you around others, she is not your friend. you should talk to her about it and if that doesnt resolve anything, move on. speaking of moving on, you think too much about things. i spent a hell of a long time with a lot of people not liking me because they could tell i was just trying to fit in. ive since gave up that bs and just am who i am, and now ive just become the smartass mad scientist of the school. im neither all that attractive nor wealthy but i went out being myself and eventually i made friends just because they knew that they will always be talking to the same me. lastly, your paradigm(sp?) on women is a bit skewed. for your sake i hope you find this one girl who is amazing and you marry her or whatever. but youre probably going to learn that thats not how it works. people date, people "date" (physical relationships), people just hang out, and people get married. most of the time you'll be part of at least a few of these different kinds of relationships, often multiple times. yes, people get hurt, yes people have to be attracted to eachother, and yes sometimes hearts get broken. but i can tell you from experience that even a fun, interesting relationship that only lasts 6 weeks easily outweighs the heartache that arises when it ends. just go out and have some fun while you still have some time, and when it works out hit me up about it. -Doug

One of the final issues that I am trying to resolve is the KNO3 for the nitric acid. The sulfuric i can pick up in 12M quantities at lowes. The idea is to make everything from ingredients available at common stores, so ebay or pre-purified KNO3 are not what I'm looking for. I was thinking saltpetre if I can find it. I read that it is around 94% KNO3 and I was wondering how I could purify it; would simply heating it in water, decanting, and filtering work? I don't think it should be dangerous at all, if I'm not mistaken KNO3 doesn't melt until up in the 300's ©. As always, the help is appreciated. -Doug

Thanks a lot. I'll let you know how it goes.

Okay, I'll be more specific, the Keq of 2(KNO3)+(H2SO4)<->(K2SO4)+2(HNO3). Or. . . am I just being an imbecile and no such value exists. . .

Hey, let me preface this by acknowleding that this information is probably somewhere on the internet, but if one of you has a good, quick reference I would love to know the equilibrium dissociation constant for distilling KNO3 and H2SO4 (the final value at STP would be great). I am obviously making my own nitric acid. It is for my final in chemistry, hence my hurriedness. Additionally, any tips you might have are welcomed. P.S. I know there is a thread on this, it wasn't helpful. It was actually frustrating. . . but i guess thats what happens when you're used to your science coming from a finely written book rather than a post written in the usual internet fashion. Thanks in advance. . . ever since I found this site this morning I've been excited. -Doug