[woelen]

I am a little concerned about all these concerns about the "extreme dangers" of HCl  . I buy this stuff in the hardware store in 5 liter jerry cans, at concentrations of around 30% to 35%. Yes, this stuff fumes heavily. It is used by the liter for cleaning walls, concrete constructions etc. All those people, using HCl are non-chemists and they all are happily working with it.

So, if you play with the 30 ml vial of this, just use common sense and don't inhale too much of the fumes. If you accidently inhale some of the fume, don't worry, and be more careful next time. Avoid contact with skin and eyes. Again, if some comes on your skin, simply rinse it away with water and be more careful next time. Only contact with the eyes is really serious, so avoid that at all cost.

The only real good advice is the use of contact lenses. Yes, that can be a problem with conc. HCl.

I don't know the price of the 30 ml HCl, but you probably overpaid a lot. You can buy it in gallon quantities at 25% to 35% (depending on country) for just $10 or so, and that material is almost colorless and suitable for almost every home chemistry experiment.

[Ψ×Ψ]

*smacks forehead* Duh.  Muriatic acid, hardware stores.  Forgot about that!  Didn't know it was so concentrated, though.   

[mafiaparty303]

i havnt bought anything yet, and ya I wasn't sure about the hardware grade HCl, I e-mailed the hardware store and they have it as muriatic acid, and I asked if it was only the acid or other additives but they never wrote back, so is it just the acid? or other additives?

[constant thinker]

Just check the container. Odds are it's just HCl and H₂O.

I honestly hate storing concentrated acids. My method for longer term storage is a plastic container that has baking soda at the bottom, and foam around the glass bottles I keep my concentrated stuff in. It's worked well for my 98% sulfuric acid so far. One thing I like though is the use of Teflon tape around the cap. I highly recommend picking some up, especially if your going to have to store the HCl.

[mafiaparty303]

i went to homedepot, but on the internet the catalog showed no sign of muratic acid, HCl nothing, so i went with my dad and there was nothing there that actually said HCl, Muratic Acid! it was like.... Caution Sodium Hydroxide and stuff but not HCl...

[pantone159]

Be aware that HCl vapor that sneaks out of the bottle will corrode anything nearby.  I once had a bottle of 31% hardware store "muriatic acid" under the sink, and I think HCl vapors got out of the plastic bottle and started to work on the metal.

[english]

Yeah you don't want to mess with something that concentrated.  I deal with chloromethane a lot, but in concentrations no more than 1^-5 M. 

Even hypothetically that concetration is utterly ridiculous. 

[joeflsts]

I actually find this thread to be very interesting.  Not because our new "citizen" chemist in training didn't know what 12 Molar meant but the reaction given to his original query.  I am a firm believer in giving people advice and then allowing them to make their own decisions.  If the intent of this forum is to tell people they have "no business" in experimentation then I'm not sure I understand the intent of the forum to begin with.  If you aren't willing to share information either don't respond or simply shut down the sub-forum.

I'm not trying to be a smart-butt but I think the intent of this forum, in general, is education.  I think educating people on the risks is a better approach then simply telling someone they shouldn't do something.

Now let me share a story:

About 25 years ago I was first cutting my teeth on experimenting with the procedure to make hydrogen gas.  The experiment was very straight forward - combine HCl and Zn in a flask - run it through some tubing into a beaker of water and replace the water in a water-filled test tube with hydrogen gas.  Light gas in the tube and enjoy the "pop" sound it made.  Well my science teacher at the time gave me about 30ml of concentrated HCl which I diluted but I eventually ran out.  I had an excess of Zn but not much I could do with it at the time without HCl.

My mother then sent me to the hardware store to purchase Muratic Acid in order to remove some scale on the bath tub.  I purchased it and while wearing rubber gloves started to disssolve the calcium buildup on the tub.  I noticed almost immediately that the HCl gas I was familiar with from my Hydrogen experiment was very similar to the fumes now coming off the bottle of this nasty smelling calcium dissolver.  After reading the ingredients I was astonished to learn that I now possessed a little less than a gallon of Hydrochloric Acid.  I was in heaven!  Over the course of the next summer I created enough hydrogen to float the Hindenberg.

Joe

[mafiaparty303]

nice story, and ya I agree I don't appreciate how people just say "Dont do it your not experienced enogh" because they were there are some point in thier lives so thank you again.

BTW did you buy the HCl at a common hardware store like Lowes, homedepot? or a town hardware store?

[joeflsts]

nice story, and ya I agree I don't appreciate how people just say "Dont do it your not experienced enogh" because they were there are some point in thier lives so thank you again.

BTW did you buy the HCl at a common hardware store like Lowes, homedepot? or a town hardware store?

You can pick up HCl at any Home Depot under the brand name Muratic Acid.  Now I want to be clear it is nasty stuff and will burn you if you don't treat it with the utmost respect. 

Joe

[mafiaparty303]

 :oI WENT and looked for it but nothing there! where did you find it? what section? I even searched the internet catalog for it and nothing. And ya, if i get it i'm gonna make sure i stay safe...as safe as possible.

[mike]

Swimming pool owners add HCl to their pools to help control clorination.

How are you going to "make sure you stay safe", maybe you should put this info here for others to read.

[mafiaparty303]

FOUNNNDDD ITTTTT   major score, just went on the Lowe's Store Website and they have it! I'll probably pick some up one of these days...maybe next week!

As for safety, if I am working outside with long pants, shirt, goggles, the surgical gloves from the store, and maybe even just a dust mask should I be safe if I'm careful? Or do I really need a full on respirator with the correct acid replacments? I'd probably just dilute the big 1 gallon one they have at lowes for $4 and then put a small amount in a glass bottle with a eyedropper screw cap. Then store the big one gallon outside near the trash bins or something? Does that sound good? Any possible hazards?

[mafiaparty303]

How will I stay safe? Hmm.. I'll start by not pouring the big one gallon jug over my arms, wear some goggles and everythign else i described up there ^^^^ in my last post.

[Borek]

As for you clothes - I think a lab coat will be safer than just long pants. In the case you splash some acid on the coat it won't get into contact with your skin fast, and even if, it is much easier to get rid of lab coat than to get rid of long pants.

Plus, no idea if the surgical gloves will survive contact with concentrated HCl. If you want to use gloves, go either for the real acid resistant ones, or at least for the kind used for house cleaning, they are much thicker and should survive much longer.

Coat, gloves, glasses and well ventilated place should be enough as long as you are carefull.