Mr_Mediocre

Not sure about Ag acetylide, never tried it or heard much about it. Sounds like an expensive balloon, but what the hell, you only live once (conservative estimate). ;-) MM

Budulle, I applaud the way you think, mate, especially for a 16 yr old. Your heart is obviously in the right place. Catalytic converters are already standard on nearly all new cars (ALL cars in australia, at least). They utilize platinum on/in a ceramic (heat resistant) matrix to absorb/transform many of the noxious emisions. If you want to do something environmental, study up on solar cells, photosynthesis, energy storage etc. We won't be able to do much about greenhouse emissions until we convince gov'ts that these alternatives are economically viable...and believe me, they take some convincing. I am not the only one in Australia who is heinously embarrased that we didn't sign the Kyoto Protocol *sigh*. We need talented people coming through the tertiary education system with postgraduate degrees AND a sense of morals/conscience. It's a slow road, but momentum is building. keep it up mate, , make sure you keep thinking outside of the box without forgetting/knowing what is in the box. MM

Amen blike! Remember NO MORE THAN 5 cm (2 INCHES) ACROSS the SKINNIEST cross-section for your balloon! You cannot be too careful! You don't wanna go through life deaf, or living with having sent other people deaf, or paying lots of $$ to other people you sent deaf. Go out to the country if you can.... But it IS a pretty cool bang...*sigh* I really should be more mature about these things...I think we've given fair warning though.... MM

Are you SURE you have seen 12M HCl? Or did someone just write that on the label. I would go as far as to guarantee that you didn't see it in aqueous solution (and I can't think of any other solvent that would hold more, except POSSIBLY ionic liquid salts, but I doubt it). The ABSOLUTE most concentrated you can get an HCl aqueous solution is 33-35%, which is just under 10M. I will bet my life on it....and I am pretty fond of the 'ol `life'. You have a link to chemfinder which will prove it to you I see what you mean about the HF/SbF5 thing now, my apologies. Where did you get that from out of curiosity? 10^18 more acidic than H2SO4 doesn't SOUND right but I am always willing to learn . Cheers, MM

G'day Mike, You need very specific conditions to go around splitting water. I wouldn't bother dude. And you don't wanna be messing with hydrogen gas anyway, could lose an eyebrow or fringe (if you have one). If you would like to hear a big bang with very little flame/smoke then do this.... Get an oxy/acetylene welding set (two cylinders with a torch/gas outlet/burner). Turn on acetlyene and light the torch/gas outlet/burner with acetlyene ONLY, then ramp up oxygen content until you get a tight, blue cutting flame with no yellow in it. EXTINGUISH the flame (release lever) while leaving the cylinder regulators on the settings they were on for the blue flame. Get a balloon... Fill the balloon with the blue-flame oxy/acetylene mixture until it is *ONLY 5 cm ACROSS!! THIS POINT IS VERY IMPORTANT!!* Go much bigger and you WILL BURST YOUR EARDRUMS, and that woudn't be good for anyone, least of all you. Tie the balloon to something OUTDOORS. Get a LONG stick and strap a candle to the end of it. Light the candle. Ignite the balloon with the candle ON THE END OF THE LOOOOONNGGG STICK. *bang* It ain't no ordinary balloon. People (neighbours) may call the cops after they hear the bang, be warned. Have fun MM

I know you said `just out of curiosity' but DO NOT TOUCH HF!!! OR SbF5!!! You will be dead in hours. High concentrations of F- are extremely lethal. It is my social duty to say so, even though you may know this already. To satisfy your curiosity, 70 % is the highest concentration that one can get perchloric acid to. 33 % (10 M) is the highest HCl can get to. HF can be prepared as a 73 % (44 M) solution. I don't know about SbF5 but you prolly don't wanna mess with it. http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/safety/hf.htm Cheers, MM

What was your idea Budullewraagh? ----------- Never give up hope MM

G'day, Not too sure what you are after here. What source of silver do you have? What are you trying to plate? Avoid perchlorates wherever possible. They ain't good. If you have a source of metallic silver then silver nitrate would be pretty easily produced by dissolving in conc HNO3 and rotovapping down. Give me a few more details about what you want to do and I'll see if I can help you out further. Cheers, MM

Hi Guys, Sodium hydroxide is always a solid under standard conditions unless it has absorbed moisture and become partially solvated (as aomaster stated). When sodium metal is put into water it is actually OXIDISED rapidly to Na+ and the electron that was stripped from it is used to create hydrogen radicals (H. from the one-electron REDUCTION of H+, one proton, one electron, unstable) from the H+ (proton) in solution, which sponateously combine to make H2 gas (two protons, two electrons, stable), which comprises the fizzing bubbles you always see. As you all know, you usually get a nice big bang after a few seconds if you drop sodium metal (or potassium, lithium etc) into water. This is because the oxidation of group one metals is extremely exothermic and this heat ignites the H2 gas that builds up from the combining H. radicals. cheerio

Hi again Guys, Na+ forms a solvation sphere around it with water which is co-ordinated to it. Co-ordination bonds are different to covalent bonds. Na+ can have 6 or 7 water molecules in its primary co-ordination sphere. The lone pairs on the oxygen atoms `co-ordinate' to the Na+ cation. There is also a secondary co-ordination sphere which is much more loosely defined and can consist of 12 or more water molecules in dynamic exchange with the surrounding solvent waters. As for Cl-...it is solvated by accepting multiple hydrogen bonds from water molecules. In crystal structures where there is a proliferation of H-bond donors, Cl- usually accepts 3 or 4 H-bonds from either OH or NH groups. In solution, it is a much more dynamic environment and the water molecules participating in H-bonding to Cl- are constantly exchanging with each other as the H-bond interactions between water molecules are a little stronger than those between water and Cl-. This is a hydrogen bonding sphere rather than a co-ordination sphere (like for Na+). Think of the waters as a cushion between ions that would otherwise stick together if there was not enough `cushion' (solvent) to keep them apart. Cheers

There is quite alot of CaCO3 in seashells! This compound is only slightly soluble in water, however, and is stabilized in seashells by the matrix into which it is incoporated, so is even less soluble. If you would like to do a little test, you could sit a seashell in vinegar overnight, testing the pH beforehand, and afterwards. You should see a rise to around pH 7 if you use enough seashell. If you have access to a decent balance, and an AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometer) with a calcium lamp, you could dissolve the seashell (after weighing it) in excess HCl, dilute it suitably (may require a few dilutions to get it right), then (after doing a standard curve with known Ca2+ standards) determine EXACTLY what percentage Ca2+ (by mass) was in your shell. There is a titration you can do if you dont have an AAS... http://www.ce.udel.edu/courses/CIEG%20437/lab02-2003.doc

Just reading the thread and had to put this in... Sorry Budullewraagh, hydrogen bonds are quite real and prolific and utilize partial charge character on atoms induced by group polarity. The interatomic distances between a hydrogen donor and an accepting group in interaction of the type H...NR2, H...OH, H...OH2, H...Cl, H...Br etc etc are well BELOW the sum of the van der Waals radii of the H and acceptor atoms, with significant orbital overlap occurring. ...and...the best accepted term for H+ in the literature is `proton'. H3O+ is hydronium (as you correctly stated), and other larger cations also exist in solution such as H5O2+, H7O3+ and have been crystallographically characterized. They are also known as hydronium ions! Don't mean to ramble but hydrogen bonding is a pet subject of mine and I just couldn't let it go. Cheers

WHOOOPS! Just realized you dont HAVE LiCl....use your battery-derived LiOH (solubility 12.8 g/100ml) solution, not LiCl (silly me *blush*)

G'day All, newcomer here...just thought I'd put in my 2 cents on this one. I Don't want to be presumtuous, but I think you might be barking up the wrong tree(s). If you look in your SI data books you'll find the aqueous solubilities of Li2CO3 and K2CO3... Actually, dont worry about it, i'll tell you Li2CO3 = 1.33 g/100ml, K2CO3 = 112 g/100ml. If you dissolve your KCl in water (solubility of 34 g/100ml, so use about 15 g in 100 ml), add Na2CO3 (solubility of 21 g/100ml, so use about 10g) (or even NaHCO3 with some sodium hydroxide to bring the pH up) as your carbonate source (don't be afraid to warm it a little). Then add your LiCl (solubility 83 g/100ml) you will get Li2CO3 precipitating from solution as you progressively add your lithium salt. If it is specifically LiCl your are after, then dissolve the Li2CO3 in HCl (fairly conc. add SLOWLY, NO HEAT) and reduce volume to get your nice LiCl crystals... Hope this works for you, Cheers