Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Best Solvent for Dissolving

Empakt - 17-2-2006 at 17:03

What do you all suggest would be the best solvent for dissolving fish, biological tissues (acid, base, neutral)?

Lambda - 17-2-2006 at 18:47

Pure Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) or Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) or a concentrated solution of the same dose a pretty good job.

If however, your intention is to dissolve a corps, or cause other mayhem, then this would be a discussion for another kind Forum.

mantis - 18-2-2006 at 01:12

I read about a mix of HCl+NaClO3 called "Euchlorin", it is used to dissolve org. materials.

BromicAcid - 18-2-2006 at 02:09

Oxidizing agents attack organics fairly well. The thing is, do you just want to destructively destroy them, or do you want to put them into solution and run some sort of analysis on them? Hydroxides are easy ways to destroy hair and the like, hence their inclusion into drain openers, in the labratory solutions of nitric and occasionally perchloric are used to dissolve organics for trace metal analysis. It all depends on what you are going to dissolve them for.

Indi75 - 1-3-2006 at 06:31

Hello, i am an anthropologist and i am currrently trying to clean an old bone collection. The problem is that these bones have been dumped into parafine and i was wondering if there would be any chimical treatment that could dissolve parafine?
Thanks

mantis - 1-3-2006 at 10:37

you can dissolve paraffin in toluen or easy in gasoline.

Tacho - 1-3-2006 at 14:29

Just use hot water and detergent (soap). The water has to be hot enough to melt the paraffin.

Molten paraffin behaves like any oil and will be washed away by the detergent.

I suggest that you first try to put the bones in plain boiling water. The paraffin will melt and is very likely that most of it, if not all, will just float away.