Too much Sulfuric acid

[BenSon]

I have about 3-4 litres of sulfuric acid of concentration roughly 3.75mol/L, I need to use some of this because its just rediculous to have this much H2SO4. Anyone who has any good ideas on what I can do with this keeping in mind I've covered many of the quick common experiments. So I'm looking for something a bit different I don't have many other chems but can buy easy to get ones, so fire away, and help out a guy who has way to much acid.

 

~Scott

[Etacude]

You can make hydrogen chloride by adding, drop-wise, conc. sulfuric acid into sodium chloride. Note that the gas gives a pungent smell and is poisonous. Best is to pass the hydrogen chloride gas into water to give hydrochloric acid.

[woelen]

Mix with sodium chloride, just as 'etacude' proposes. Try to dissolve as much as possible NaCl by heating somewhat (no need to boil, that would drive off HCl). Let liquid cool down, remove the crystals (these are mainly Na2SO4 and NaHSO4) and then add some solid NaClO3. KClO3 also works but slower. You'll see a deep intensely colored yellow gas, ClO2. This experiment works great with acid of the concentration you mention. This experiment also works with concentrated HCl, but then you won't get rid of the H2SO4 .

 

This is not a way to get rid of lots of H2SO4 though, because you should do the experiment only on a test tube scale! ClO2 is a very sensitive compound, which easily explodes (if you drip in some organic, such as ethanol or acetone, then it probably explodes, resulting in scattered glass and acid sprayed around!). The gas, however, is cool to see and when you keep the test tube horizontally, then you can actually 'pour' out the gas. If you do this close to the surface of some water, then you get really cool effects at the border of the glas cloud (kind of nebula on the water surface, which spreads out slowly). This experiment of course should be done outside.

[woelen]

You can make hydrogen chloride by adding, drop-wise, conc. sulfuric acid into sodium chloride. Note that the gas gives a pungent smell and is poisonous. Best is to pass the hydrogen chloride gas into water to give hydrochloric acid.

This does not work with acid of concentration 3.75 mol/liter. Then the acid first needs to be concentrated by boiling away the water, until faint white fumes are produced. That, however, is quite a dangerous thing to do without the proper equipment (boiling the H2SO4 in a pan in the kitchen does not seem to be a good idea to me ).

[Etacude]

woelen, you are right! I did not read BenSon carefully, I thought it was >90% conc sulfuric.

[EL]

This does not work with acid of concentration 3.75 mol/liter. Then the acid first needs to be concentrated by boiling away the water, until faint white fumes are produced. That, however, is quite a dangerous thing to do without the proper equipment (boiling the H2SO4 in a pan in the kitchen does not seem to be a good idea to me ).

 

[EL]

He needs a reflux column like this but in glass and with an open end.

<http://www.moonshine-still.com/page15.htm >

Then water could be boiled off.

[YT2095]

I`m curious as to why you think this is a "Ridiculous" amount?

and thus have to use some of it up (waste it)?

 

just put it in an appropriate bottle, and forget about it until you need it!

 

this seems such a Crazy question!!!

[raivo]

If i were you i just boiled it to high conc. Then i would get aproximately 1l concentrated sulfuric acid. Thats not too big amount to store and diluted sulfuric acid has not much use anyway.

[EL]

I am wondering if he had it originally as a lead accumulator electrolyte.

Perhaps his car battery is of such a type that needs sulphuric acid at such a strength.

[SketchTurner]

Hmm boiling sulphuric acid. I remember a day back at college when I decided to leave a beaker of sulphuric acid over a bunsen. Ended in the floor being evacuated for half an hour while the fumes cleared...

[BenSon]

Woelen,

Mix with sodium chloride, just as 'etacude' proposes. Try to dissolve as much as possible NaCl by heating somewhat (no need to boil, that would drive off HCl). Let liquid cool down, remove the crystals (these are mainly Na2SO4 and NaHSO4) and then add some solid NaClO3. KClO3 also works but slower. You'll see a deep intensely colored yellow gas, ClO2. This experiment works great with acid of the concentration you mention. This experiment also works with concentrated HCl, but then you won't get rid of the H2SO4 .

Sounds good I'll do this one tommorrow or tonight if I have time, Any Ideas on something that I could make more large scale?

 

Yt,

I`m curious as to why you think this is a "Ridiculous" amount?

and thus have to use some of it up (waste it)?

 

just put it in an appropriate bottle, and forget about it until you need it!

 

this seems such a Crazy question!!!

Crazy? Crazy! like a fox , I don't want to waste it Yt, I just want to use some of it up. Its like money whats the use of having it if you don't spend it. So any Ideas other the store it which I am currently doing and getting no satisfaction.

ravio,

If i were you i just boiled it to high conc. Then i would get aproximately 1l concentrated sulfuric acid. Thats not too big amount to store and diluted sulfuric acid has not much use anyway.

I will probably end up doing that if I can't find any use for it.

El

I am wondering if he had it originally as a lead accumulator electrolyte.

Perhaps his car battery is of such a type that needs sulphuric acid at such a

strength

.

Bingo it is just filtered car battery acid.

 

~Scott

[akcapr]

the hcl generation from h2so4 and nacl wont work cuz the hcl if made (which it wont be) would just dissolve in the water cuz the h2so4 is so dilute. so if i were u, i would concentrate it and then do stuff. try making methane- conc. h2so4 + sodium acetate.

[ThermiteMan]

Today was an A+ day for any aspiring chemist in New Windsor, NY. My father and i ventured to a old run down hardware store called Primavera Hardware because my dad needed one of our window screens repaired. So i was just walked around and then i saw it. Two sealed,bagged bottles of Rooto Professional Drain Opener. Concentrated Sulphuric Acid!. I screamed so loud, the guy at the counter laughed at me. i instantly called LatentHeat and told him and he got so excited my ear drum got blown out. he was like BUY IT! BUY IT!. so i did and the guy who was at the registar warned me and gave me that "dont even think about it look" but good thing my dad bought it for me. I rushed home and the first thing i did was pour it on some sugar. my god it was like a hissing mass of black crap with smoke that smelled like a bad caramel candy but left a very uncomfortable tickle in my throught. but sure enough it worked. the thought of esterification made my heart beat faster than a cheeta. im soo excited and since this thread is about Sulphuric i thought would tell you. tell me about more experiments so i can have fun......!!!! heres a pic of the sugar (now carbon)

[jdurg]

Ahhhhh....... The good ol' concentrated H2SO4 + Sugar reaction. It's the first real chemistry demo I ever saw that didn't involve weak wussy chemicals. 8th grade chemistry class it was. It's the reaction that got me into chemistry.

[ThermiteMan]

*tear* how touching....

[akcapr]

loool

[BenSon]

Come on people, lets think of something large scale to do. The key here is I have lots of this stuff and while these demos are cool, they're small. Whats something that is only effective to do with large amounts of acid or much more effective when large amounts are used.

 

~Scott

[EL]

Use it as a marble etcher or cement remover from the excess between tiles.

Or neutralise its acidity by throwing a piece of copper in to produce copper sulphate; then concentrate it, then evaporate the solution and dry the sulphate to anhydrous powder to test for water.

 

Or neutralise its acidity by throwing a piece of zinc in to produce zinc sulphate; it is very good to help in soldering as a flux.

Be creative;

Fill a beaker with your solution and place a graphite rod on one side and an aluminium rod on the other; test for potential difference by connecting a 3V tungsten filament (lamp).

[raivo]

Come on people' date=' lets think of something large scale to do. The key here is I have lots of this stuff and while these demos are cool, they're small. Whats something that is only effective to do with large amounts of acid or much more effective when large amounts are used.

 

~Scott[/quote']

 

You can use remarkable amounts of (concentrated) sulfuric acid if you will make remarkable quantity of nitric or hydrochloric acid or organic esters.

 

When boiling acids you have to use boiling stones (some pieces of broken porcelainware) otherwise it does not stay in the flask!

[BenSon]

This is not a way to get rid of lots of H2SO4 though, because you should do the experiment only on a test tube scale! ClO2 is a very sensitive compound, which easily explodes (if you drip in some organic, such as ethanol or acetone, then it probably explodes, resulting in scattered glass and acid sprayed around!). The gas, however, is cool to see and when you keep the test tube horizontally, then you can actually 'pour' out the gas. If you do this close to the surface of some water, then you get really cool effects at the border of the glas cloud (kind of nebula on the water surface, which spreads out slowly). This experiment of course should be done outside.

That was fun smelled bad, but fun, I just realised that I used NaClO not NaClO3 so I don't think i made ClO but just normal Cl2

HCl + NaClO = NaOH + Cl2

Where can I get NaClO3?

 

~Scott

[EL]

Where can I get NaClO3?

 

~Scott

 

Make it.

[Nevermore]

Or, you could just burn stuff. Write your name on the sidewalk with it! Hehe. Just be sure to clean it all up when you're done. Imagine stepping in that! OW!

[BenSon]

Make it.

Alright smart guy, I'll take pics too I just found the cable for my camera

 

~Scott

[woelen]

That was fun smelled bad, but fun, I just realised that I used NaClO not NaClO3 so I don't think i made ClO but just normal Cl2.

Indeed, you just made Cl2. Then you only observed a faint green color. If you make ClO2 then you get an intensely colored yellow gas. You certainly won't overlook it . See the pictures at my website:

http://81.207.88.128/science/chem/exps/clo2/index.html

 

HCl + NaClO = NaOH + Cl2

Making a strong base from a strong acid? That is cool .

 

OK, no kidding, the reaction is as follows:

 

HClO + Cl(-) + H(+) --> Cl2 + H2O

 

Written without ions (simpler but less accurate description):

HClO + HCl --> Cl2 + H2O

 

The HClO is from ClO(-) from the bleach and acid. HClO is a very weak acid, so it hardly is dissociated in its ions.

 

Where can I get NaClO3?

In some countries it is used as herbicide, I'm not sure whether this is the case in your country. As an alternative you can use KClO3, but the reaction is somewhat slower in that case, but the final result is the same.

 

KClO3 can be prepared with some effort at home from table salt and low-sodium salt (mostly KCl), see http://www.wfvisser.dds.nl/EN/kclox_EN.html

[X Diegone]

If you want to get rid of a lot of it in one experiment and in an interesting way then might i suggest useing it in an explosive way........ explosions are always fun in many ways.......... good luck and have fun..........