Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Other Sciences Question Forum => Topic started by: FoolishFingers on July 18, 2012, 12:37:54 PM
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First, I'm not a chemist and what I did could have had nasty results but to my credit I did this in a 1" thick composite glass/plastic box with air filtration (I use it for melting melting metals in a vacuum normally).
I accidentally poured sulfuric acid into a beaker containing iron, copper, silver, platinum, titanium, carbon, silica and trace amounts (less than 1%) of uranium, nickel, rhodium as well as chloride salts of sodium, iron, copper, silver partially suspended distilled water, vinegar and h202 (3%) that was partially neutralized with baking soda.
(My real intent was to pour this into a beaker of copper scraps).
Realizing I could have made something nasty, I did something possibly more stupid and compounded the problem by adding baking soda to neutralize that...What happened was a metallic green/rust colored foam filled the chamber that quickly solidified. Aside, from a mess that's probably in need of safe disposal...how can I figure out what I created? I'm just curious. I've never seen foam turn hard as steel in a fraction of a second.
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Well, I don't believe neutralizing the acid would be considered a bad thing, it seems like a perfectly good ides, or at least harmless enough, if the waste beaker s in a safe place. The "hard as steel" foam, that I know nothing about. Is it really that tough?
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I was a bit hasty in declaring that. All I had at the time was a carbon rod and a glass rod in the box to poke at it. Once I unsealed the chamber it became pretty brittle and crushes into something that looks like a gritty rusty cement paste.
Is there a way I could figure out what did? Should I just write down everything in the mix with the ratios I think I added and figure out what could have reacted with what? (What's a good place to look for that information).
I have no real goal other than "Oh cool, that was neat, what did I make?"