sulfuric acid

[thermonub]

hey, I recently bought some Amazing! liquid fire drain unblocker with concentrated sulfuric acid. it's a dark brown oily liquid (which I think is what normal sulfuric acid looks like) I was wondering if anybofy knew the concentration, purity or the "nertness" (as in not inert) of the other chemicals that could possibly be in the drain cleaner. thanks in advance.

[YT2095]

Conc Sulphuric acid is indeed a heavy oily liquid, it`s certainly now Brown though!?

[joeflsts]

hey, I recently bought some Amazing! liquid fire drain unblocker with concentrated sulfuric acid. it's a dark brown oily liquid (which I think is what normal sulfuric acid looks like) I was wondering if anybofy knew the concentration, purity or the "nertness" (as in not inert) of the other chemicals that could possibly be in the drain cleaner. thanks in advance.

 

Search for an MSDS on the product name. Also, Sulfuric Acid is not normally dark brown in its pure form.

 

It contains at least a coloring agent.

 

Joe

[Pleiades]

I seem to recall someone mentioning the brown colour was from organic contaminants that were ‘burnt’ by the acid. My guess is that the drain cleaner acid is just the lowest grade, maybe 90% pure. If you can measure it’s density, that should give you a rough idea of the purity.

[YT2095]

you`re probably better off giving it to your Mommy and telling her its "Nertness" is quite high, and would she look after it for you until you`re smart enough to handle such things

[thermonub]

i'm sorry, I wasn't aware of what the opposite of inert was.

[chemhero]

Good point, what is the opposite word for "inert"?

 

I usually use "reactivity" as a measure, since nothing is truley inert - everything will do something!

 

Except maybe helium...

 

Matt

[JHAQ]

Drain cleaner is usually caustic soda ( NaOH) ( lye ) ; KOH is even better -- a conc solution of either in water . The best is conc H2SO4 which due to manufacturing process is usually 96 % H2SO4 in water . It is claimed ( though I know of some exceptions that conc H2SO4 ( better 100% H2SO4 )will dissolve any organic compound whch contains oxygen --- including terephthallic acid which is why it is such a good drain cleaner .

[woelen]

H2SO4 indeed is a very good drain cleaner, but it does not dissolve any organic compound with oxygen in it. Some plastics also may contain oxygen atoms, still they can withstand the sulphuric acid. Also, ethers withstand the acid. The acid most likely attacks the hydrocarbon types, such as in sugars, cellulose, etc. It also attacks peptide structures, hydrolysing them and breaking down the large chains. These two properties cause it to breakdown most troublesome stuff, which usually is in drains (remnants of hair, tissue, fibers).

[thermonub]

what's so special about sulfuric acid that makes it boil and splatter when water is added to it? and why are many reactions involving h2so4 exothermic?

[woelen]

There is nothing special with H2SO4 and its exothermic reaction with water. Many compounds have such an exothermic reaction.

 

Sulphuric acid breaks down in ions and the ions are solvated (surrounded by water molecules). Thbis breaking down and subsequent solvation releases a lot of energy:

 

H2SO4 ---> H(+) + HSO4(-) + energy (all ions are solvated)

 

There are more compounds which do this. A funny example, which I once experienced is the gas HCl:

 

HCl ----> H(+) + Cl(-) (again, ions are solvated)

 

I once made some HCl-gas and some of this was blowing along my hand (which was a little humid, due to hot summer weather). While the gas was going along my hand, I actually felt the breeze and at the same time I felt my hand heating up. Very strange effect. Of course, I quickly rinsed my hand immediately when this happened, and there were no bad effects at all.

[imp]

you`re probably better off giving it to your Mommy and telling her its "Nertness" is quite high, and would she look after it for you until you`re smart enough to handle such things

 

Personally, I appreciate your approach, but recall all too well that being discouraged by the wiser aged usually resulted in my being ENcouraged!

 

Ah, the curiosity of youth! imp

[Infinitus]

what's so special about sulfuric acid that makes it boil and splatter when water is added to it? and why are many reactions involving h2so4 exothermic?

AAA Always Add Acid. Standard Saftey tip you Never want to add water to an acid you add the acid to the water, other wise if the acid is of sufficent Molality then it will splash back in your face. Also the vapors emitted from an acis such as sulfuric can cause your nose to bleed and give you one hell of a headache.

[Kelaniz]

Anyone know why the density of H2SO4 would decrease above 98% concentration? I've noticed this in two separate charts listing the densities for various concentrations:

 

% density (g/mL)

1 1.0049

10 1.0661

30 1.2191

90 1.8144

92 1.8240

94 1.8312

96 1.8355

98 1.8361

100 1.8305

 

This makes no sense to me. However, to be fair, whenever that happens, I'm usually missing something.

 

-Kel

[Genecks]

I suggest you don't wear a watch when you mess with that stuff.

[MagicJigPipe]

I'd have to say if the acid got close enough to you to **** up your watch, that would be the least of your worries. Also, a lot of the time when H2SO4 "burns" organic compounds, carbon is a reaction product. That might be some of what causes the dark (sometimes black) color of drain cleaner. Perhaps boiling the drain cleaner would decompose most organics in the mix and make them harder (hopefully easier) to seperate.

 

You could always distill but in my experience H2SO4 is one of the hardest substances to distill because of the extreme reactivity of the boiling acid and the low volatility/high temps involved.

 

About the density. Maybe this will help answer your question.

 

Addition of water to stoichiometric 100% sulfuric acid increases the density until a maximum results near 87 mole% H_2SO_4. The density and conductivity maxima and viscosity minimum, the latter two near 75 mole%, are direct macroscopic responses to microscopic quantum mechanical properties of H_3O^+ and of nearly symmetric H-bond double-well potentials, as follows: (1) lack of H bonding to the O atom of H_3O^+; (2) short, 2.4–2.6 A, O—O distances of nearly symmetric H bonds; and, (3) increased mobility of protons in such short H bonds, give rise to the density maximum via (1) and (2); (1) produces the viscosity minimum; and the conductivity maximum results from (2) and (3). A pronounced minimum near 1030 cm^−1 in the symmetric SO_3 stretching Raman frequency of HSO_4^−, observed near 45 mole% also results from double-well effects involving the short H bonds of direct hydronium ion—bisulfate ion pair interactions. Estimates of the concentrations of the (H_3O^+)(HSO_4^−) and (H_2SO_4)(HSO_4^−) pair interactions were determined from Raman intensity data and are given for compositions between 42–100 mole%

 

That's from ingentaconnect.com

[dubois928]

AAA Always Add Acid. Standard Saftey tip you Never want to add water to an acid you add the acid to the water, other wise if the acid is of sufficent Molality then it will splash back in your face. Also the vapors emitted from an acis such as sulfuric can cause your nose to bleed and give you one hell of a headache.

 

"Do as ya outta, add the acid to the watta; if you feel your life's to placid, add the watta to the acid."

 

Anyways I recently bought some concentrated sulfuric acid from Ace Hardware under the name of "Rooto Professional Drain Opener". Doesn't have any percentages on it, but it has enough warnings and instructions on it to turn even the "Queen of Clean" away.

 

Ken

[Thor1394]

As for the concentrations, Liquid Fire drain opener is 80% sulphuric acid and Rooto Professional drain opener is 95% sulphuric acid.

[Sand Grain]

i just have a point to ask about...:

 

how in the world.... did u know it "feels oily"???!!!

 

i mean, if u actually did touch it, u cant be typing here

[skwiff]

i just have a point to ask about...:

 

how in the world.... did u know it "feels oily"???!!!

 

i mean, if u actually did touch it, u cant be typing here

 

 

gloves perhaps? you can still feel the texture of a liquid with gloves on...