fallout - 29-12-2005 at 22:41
I have a questioned that some of you will probly find
stupid,so here it goes.I have a jar of caustic soda that i have left the lid off of.i tried useing it in my "science project" today and found that it
was not "doing" what i want it to.I think that has lost its potancy.
Is there any way of lets say charging it or something?
If there is i would really like to hear how because buying more is a last resort.
The_Davster - 29-12-2005 at 22:51
As a result of air exposure your NaOH has reacted with CO2 in the air to form sodium carbonate. There is no practical way to get it back to NaOH, you
are going to have to buy more. You might be lucky and find some NaOH in the very bottom of the bottle if you scrape off all the carbonate above it.
How long was it left out anyway?
fallout - 30-12-2005 at 00:06
At least three days.Will the sodium carbonate look like the NaOH?
The_Davster - 30-12-2005 at 00:25
The NaOH will be in prill form, the Na2CO3 as a powder or crystals, scrape these off till you get to the prills. 3 days shouldent have caused the
loss of all the NaOH...
12AX7 - 31-12-2005 at 21:02
In theory, you can add lime (Ca(OH)2 or CaO, which becomes Ca(OH)2 with water so it doesn't matter) and precipitate the carbonate as CaCO3, filter and
dehydrate. Problem being, you either want a solution of NaOH, or you'll have a hell of a time drying it, since NaOH is nicely hygroscopic and tends
to react with your drying dish!
Tim