[TheForge] Re: coal or charcoal morph to Evaporust

[Mike Spencer]

> Dr. Pepper ingredients:
> Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Caramel  
> Color, Phosphoric Acid, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Sodium  
> Benzoate (Preservative), Caffeine

I can't document this but I'll go ahead and state it as facts.  YMMV.

I'm pretty sure that before WWII, "phosphates" were commonplace at
soda fountains and involved the addition of phosphoric acid.  Coke(tm)
and probably other soft drinks contained phosphoric acid.  Then they
stopped doing that, allegedly because the acid did (or might) harm
teeth.

The name "phosphate" and the the notion that Coke would take rust of
of chrome trim outlived the disappearance of phosphate from the
drinks.  In the late 50s, Coke didn't do squat for rust but little old
Victorian ladies were still ordering "phosphates" at the soda fountain.

Sometime in the 80s, I noticed that one of the macho drinks -- Jolt or
some hard-nosed name like that -- listed phosphoric acid as an
ingredient but others did not. Now Coke & Pepsi.

So, I guess its baaaack. :-)

What's this about "reacts explosively with concrete"? And "Nasty stuff
in any strength"?  What?  I've had it on my hands. No apparent
reaction.  No fumes, dangerous or otherwise.  Doesn't cause anything
I've spilled it on to burst into flame, char, disintegrate or the like.
Doesn't react violently with water.  Doesn't turn into a disaster when
left to sit quietly in the corner.[1]

By contrast, concentrated sulfuric acid causes your skin to swell up
and turn to mush.  It reacts violently with water if mixed wrong.
Same for chlorosulfonic acid.  Dilute solutions of H2SO4 -- battery
acid, say -- spilled on cotton fabric will cause the fabric to
disintegrate.  Concentrated nitric acid has a dangerous fume, reacts
violently with a number of things to produce other dangerous fumes,
eats your skin instantly.  Hydrofluoric acid not only eats your skin
but penetrates flesh to initiate progressive deterioration of bone.
Liquid muriatic acid is actually a dissolved gas and outgasses HCl
vapor that will eat you airway and lungs.

Phosphoric acid is, comparatively, a pussycat.

Frosty> I don't recommend buying lab grade phosphoric 99.97% like I
Frosty> did.

85% technical grade is an article of commerce. It's a somewhat syrupy
liquid and you dilute it substantially for pickling iron.  There was a
guy in Dartmouth, NS, who ran a weird business: handcraft supplies --
you know, foam balls, glitter, sequins, novelty yarns -- and
phosphoric acid.  He manufactured the acid out in the parking lot in
some kind of big, ca. 2,000 gal. reactor vessel.  Sold the biz and the
new people terminated the phosphoric acid part.  Dang.  No
ambition. :-)

A quick google on the molasses & rust trick turned up an interesting
anecdote:

   http://otagoinstitute.otago.ac.nz/Newsletter/OIN-Nov2003.pdf

(Scroll down to page 4.)

Now I'm wondering if the inulin in Jerusalem artichokes would would
work.  Gotta dig up some artichokes, smush them up in water and try it.


- Mike

[1] I just cleaned up a mess of sodium hydroxide.  I stored it in its
    original glass reagent bottle. Apparently it absorbed water from
    the air despite the tight cover, deliquesced into a puddle and
    then froze, bursting the bottle.  The next year it absorbed more
    water and oozed all over the shelf, ate the plywood, took the
    paint off neighboring cans etc.  Gak.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^