WarezWally Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Went digging under the house and i found a large clear bottle filled with a red / orange liquid. It has some particles suspended in it. Ive poured a small amount on some concrete and its effect is instantaneous in turning it white. Compared to my 32% HCl it is much potent and violent. I have very little idea what it is, my first though was red fuming nitric but seeing as it has small particles in it something could have contaminated it. http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9878/acidxm5.jpg Any ideas? I tried adding a small amount of sugar and it did nothing so i can rule out sulfuric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarezWally Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share Posted September 29, 2007 no reactions with copper or lead I'm leaning towards contaminated HCl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Any reaction with Aluminium or Zinc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarezWally Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share Posted September 29, 2007 With aluminium (small bit of foil) it was pretty nasty, fizzled and then turned black and melted the plastic container it was in. If it is HCl (which i think it is) any idea why its so potent compared to the 32% stuff i have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asilentbob Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Phosphoric acid, H3PO4. My moneys on it... but not really... and that guess is coming almost exclusivly from the shape of the container. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Any particular smell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h0lx Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 test it with soda, it might not be an acid at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyboy25 Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 no dont do this all ways add acid to water!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pudidotdk Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 no dont do this all ways add acid to water!! Why? Then there's no point doing it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daily1986 Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 infomation removed do to inaccuracy sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyboy25 Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Why? Then there's no point doing it... A large amount of heat is released when strong acids are mixed with water. Adding more acid releases more heat. If you add water to acid, you form an extremely concentrated solution of acid initially. So much heat is released that the solution may boil very violently, splashing concentrated acid out of the container! If you add acid to water, the solution that forms is very dilute and the small amount of heat released is not enough to vaporize and spatter it. So Always Add Acid to water, and never the reverse. thats why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Just test it with PH paper. Or take a small sample and drop in a drop of soda solution. What is its density? smell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asilentbob Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Use a SG meter... or find its density with g/ml... also do some tests of its compounds... ie sulfate/phosphate/chloride precipitates, solubility, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarezWally Posted September 30, 2007 Author Share Posted September 30, 2007 Just test it with PH paper. Or take a small sample and drop in a drop of soda solution. What is its density? smell?pH has been tested and its acidic density - not to keen on playing around with it atm, might do that tomorrowsmell - nasty, got a whiff from a few meters away and i was spluttering. Hard to describe, strong and overpowering to say the least. For the time being its staying in its bottle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h0lx Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 maybe its formic acid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogy Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 It really could be Formic acid especially if found buried. It just seems to me if there was a beekeeper or something at the house before you they could have kept formic acid to treat their bees and such and just left it in their basement or outside... Formic acid is EXTREMELY corrosive and will burn you about instantly... Breathing it in can be fatal in very short exposure... It rates about the same as Chlorine gas as toxicity of its gases, but really it's closer to a 4 rating (cyanide)... It doesn't seem it would be possible for the average Joe to get this chemical, but you can freely buy it from some chemical suppliers and possibly eBay... I remember learning about it in my Biology classes when we were going over Amino, Nucleic, and other carboxyl (COOH) acids... Formic acid is just COOH (the simplest form)... and if I remember from when I was trying to make rust be Vinegar + Bleach... Vinegar contains the next simplest carboxyl acid... Uh acetic acid which is CH3COOH I believe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jleidenfrost Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Formic (methanoic acid) is HCOOH not COOH the COOH is the functional group of the carboxylic acids. but nice info about the beekeepers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisibleworld Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 GET RID OF IT... Why mess around with something you don't know what it is or how contaminated, or what consentration it is. You surely could not depend on anything working right, that you made from it, and it is not labeled, so why take a chance of some child or animal getting into it. At the very least it would just be a pain to store or keep around. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarezWally Posted October 6, 2007 Author Share Posted October 6, 2007 And how do you propose i get rid of it? Its not like i can pour it down the drain or throw it into my neighbors bin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisibleworld Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Well ''' let's see, Hmmm... Maybe you can put it in a box marked TOYS and send it to China No really. if you live in the city, they take those kind of chemicals at the transfer station (dump) I had a whole jar of murcury once and called a metal recycling place and they told me to stay the hell away from them with that sh.. I called the City and they told me that the dump had a special area for people to take all sorts of poison and insecticides, lead paint and such because they didn't want people to flush them or toss them in the woods. But seriously I wouldn't keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskarchem Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 you wasted a whole jar of Hg?? I would of loved to have some of that... By the way to chec if you substance is Formic acid you can do this test: Take sone KNO3 and mix it with Brucine (C23H26N2O4) and then add some of your substance, if it is formic acid then mixture will become Red... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogy Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Went digging under the house and i found a large clear bottle filled with a red / orange liquid. That's really helpful seeing it is already red... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskarchem Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 yes but the solution will become deep red, and we don't know how red it is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyboy25 Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 how the hell did you get a whole jar filled with mercury?!?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 You know I've been thinking about this. I would think that it's maybe this stuff called diggers HCl. It turns red upon contact with some things. I cannot remember for the life of me what it takes. One way to check would be to place a container in it next to a container with Ammonia. White fumes should appear above it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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