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Author: Subject: Sulfuric, nitric, and peroxide from Rona
The_Davster
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[*] posted on 3-2-2005 at 19:30


That store, David Hunter's, does it cater to the general public or for agrarian uses? Very few, if any gardening stores that sell to the public carry pure nitrate fertilizers. :(



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Quince
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[*] posted on 4-2-2005 at 07:53


General public. Will the others sell non-wholesale?

BTW, for those in Canada, is it possible to buy nitrocellulose/guncotton/smokeless powder, or do I need a license? It's too hard to get a uniform amount of nitration when DIY. What sort of place would sell it?

[Edited on 4-2-2005 by Quince]




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Chris The Great
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[*] posted on 5-2-2005 at 03:03


Hmm, go to bigger Rona's when shopping, I stopped by a smaller but cloaser Rona and they lacked both sulfuric and H2O2. Luckily I found a large amount of calcium hypochlorite which I needed, but this means I still have no H2O2.

I need to check the bigger Rona where I found my H2O2 before, but it's a fair distance away from me.
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Quince
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[*] posted on 5-2-2005 at 03:24


Mine had both 35% H2O2 and 90%+ H2SO4, but only 12% HN03. This hypochlorite, is this the stuff sold as pool chlorinator?

So, does any Canadian know about the smokeless powder/nitrocellulose/guncotton/pyroxilin? Can this be bought OTC?

My main question: what's the cheapest source of lab equipment in Canada (I want to get an aspirator and stuff for distillation)?

[Edited on 5-2-2005 by Quince]




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[*] posted on 17-3-2005 at 18:02


Went back to my small Rona, found the Zonk plus drain cleaner. $16/900mL.
But later I found a drain opener labeled 'Proffessional Liquid Drain Opener' at a small local Home Hardware I had never gone in before, for $8/900mL. The also had less concentrated stuff for home use, for $7.5/900mL, but of course who wants that?

So, I'm definatly keeping the $8 stuff, but I'm wondering how pure the Zonk stuff is, ie is it worth it to keep it as it's more concentrated etc? Otherwise I'll take it back and get another 900mL of the HH stuff.

EDIT
Looked through the bottles with a bright light, the stuff from Rona is clear, while the cheaper HH stuff is coloured heavily (can't see through it at all). I might just have to keep both of them to figure out what works the best, so I can save cash if fairly pure sulfuric acid is not needed. No point in using $16 H2SO4 to dry some gas when I can get $8 that will work just as well.

[Edited on 18-3-2005 by Chris The Great]
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The_Davster
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[*] posted on 17-3-2005 at 18:30


Zonk plus was the first sulfuric acid I ever had. Nostalgia:). It is quite concentrated but it is on the expensive side for some reason(you are actually getting it 2$ cheaper than when I bought it). It worked for me to make picric acid with a long time ago. I also know I used it in another nitration but I forget what it was.

EDIT: "the stuff from Rona is clear" Are you speaking of the Zonk Plus???... Mine was completly black and opaque. Another sulfuric acid source from Rona is "clear line drain opener". It is a bright red colour, and is cheaper than the zonk, 11$/L. I have not used it for anything other than distilling nitric from so far, however it worked quite well for this purpose.

[Edited on 18-3-2005 by rogue chemist]




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[*] posted on 17-3-2005 at 20:20


The Zonk Plus I bought is transparent with a slight dirty yellow tinge, that's all. When I poured it out of the bottle, it had a tiny bit of gunk near the bottom, but other than this it seems good.

Also, I found KNO3 at Rona, sold as stump remover (about $9 Canadian for 500 g).

I just used both of these sources to vacuum distill HNO3 and it looks good. I had to add water to dissolve all the KNO3, but the end result was HNO3 with density about 1.45 and just the lightest yellowish tint (I heated too fast). I can't believe the amount of water going through the aspirator to distill 20 mL...I'm thinking that's the most expensive thing in the procedure.

[Edited on 18-3-2005 by Quince]




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[*] posted on 17-3-2005 at 20:22


I guess mine was just quite old and had reacted with the plastic bottle that it was in, I remember reading somewhere that this happens to sulfuric acid if stored in plastic for long periods of time.



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[*] posted on 17-3-2005 at 21:30


Perhaps they changed their product, after all it seems you got this acid quite some time ago (at least that's what I get from reading your post). Maybe they realized it was cheaper and worked better to just use the barrels of sulfuric acid they buy in bulk instead of diluting and adding other stuff to it.

The other stuff is a nice pink colour, appearing red when in any sort of quantity (ie drops of it are pink, but the stuff inside looks deep red). It's very pretty. I'll have to do a bunch of experimenting with them on spring break to see if one has any advantage over the other.
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[*] posted on 28-3-2005 at 19:48


Quote:
Originally posted by rogue chemist
EDIT: Another sulfuric acid source from Rona is "clear line drain opener". It is a bright red colour, and is cheaper than the zonk, 11$/L.

[Edited on 18-3-2005 by rogue chemist]


Didn't want to start a new thread, so I'm digging up a semi-old thread here.

I was just curious if there was any reason why the sulfuric acid was red, and if it had any negative effects (maybe there are contaminants?)
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[*] posted on 28-3-2005 at 20:23


I think he means the bottle, I have the same stuff, liquid fire is the brand. I seem to recall a store(-ish) brand as well, I forget which was cheaper.

Tim
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[*] posted on 28-3-2005 at 20:30


Weird, the liquid I have is some "Professional Grade Drain Opener" and it's labelled as containing H2SO4, but it's definitely red/reddish in colour.
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[*] posted on 28-3-2005 at 21:17


Huh, stuff I have is a light yellow color, thick and dense (as it ought to be). Doesn't smell like anything either, I was expecting it to?? Maybe yours has excess SO3 in it, I always imagine things like that coloring it dark and evil... even though that would be fuming sulfuric and probably still colorless anyway...(ah, imagination...one can only hope ;) ).

Tim
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[*] posted on 29-3-2005 at 20:52


This might be a bit hazy, but I think it gets the point across

http://www.cpindustries.ca/products-services.php

The picture on the right hand side shows a few bottles of chemicals, two of the bottles have a reddish liquid on the inside. That's essentially what I have for my H2SO4 (I just happened to buy a different brand, but the colouring looks exactly the same)

I asked some of my profs at university and they said it's possible that they put in something to make it look "nasty and scary" so that you don't drink it (on the contrary, I think it kinda looks like red Kool-Aid :D)
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[*] posted on 31-3-2005 at 22:11


It's a dye, probably added for the above reasons.

It dissappears when I make Caro's acid, so I would think it's most likely organic and destroyed by the oxygen (some bubbling was noticed, but very very little, as the colour went away).

Considering it isn't being attacked by the sulfuric acid, I would think it would be realively inert in most reactions. Very little would be added anyway so it shouldn't affect the results that much even if it did react.

I also noticed my Zonk acid is slightly murky white, and not completely clear as I previously thought.
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