CHRIS25
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Storing Light sensitive chemicals
I will be getting some potassium ferricyanide and ammonium ferric citrate soon and obviously will need to store the resulting solutions that I make in
light sensitive bottles.
At first thought I was simply going to store them in a dark brown bottle that had some supermarket stuff in it (well washed out of course), but on
second thoughts, daft as this question may sound, would it be absolutely necessary to buy the chemistry bottles that are designed for this purpose as
opposed to simply finding a dark brown jar? They will not be stored in a dark cupboard by the way, just a little light will hit the bottles, this is
why I am asking.
I can only get them in sets of 10 for 22 euros from a local chemical supplier. so a small amount of cash that may be, But I need to save every penny
for other items that are necessary, so every little saving helps.
‘Calcination… is such a Separation of Bodies by Fire, as makes ‘em easily reducible into Powder; and for that reason ‘tis call’d by some
Chymical Pulverization.’ (John Friend, Chymical Lectures London, 1712)
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. (William Penn 1644-1718)
The very nature of Random, Chance development precludes the existence of Order - strange that our organic and inorganic world is so well defined by
precision and law. (me)
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Arthur Dent
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Dark brown is dark brown. Any glass bottle with a proper cap will do. Of course, if you don't want your chems to escape, make sure it's a cap liner
that will resist the oxidizing/corrosive fumes generated by your stuff. If you can't find corrosion-resistant caps, then the bottles/jars will be
quite useless to you.
Even better would be dark red bottles, but they are quite rare. I've seen on occasions dark blue bottles and jars.
Robert
--- Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. - Frank Zappa ---
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BromicAcid
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Common, at least where I am, is to just wrap a regular bottle in aluminum foil. That is what we do at my work although the final product is
re-packaged after the fact. It's funnier when someone is working with isocyanides and they have to wrap a whole 72 L setup in aluminum foil 
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CHRIS25
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Ok guys thankyou, yes I know a bit of a lame question, but had to be sure, always a nasty surprise turns up when you least expect something to be not
quite right. Good tip about the foil, thanks.
‘Calcination… is such a Separation of Bodies by Fire, as makes ‘em easily reducible into Powder; and for that reason ‘tis call’d by some
Chymical Pulverization.’ (John Friend, Chymical Lectures London, 1712)
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. (William Penn 1644-1718)
The very nature of Random, Chance development precludes the existence of Order - strange that our organic and inorganic world is so well defined by
precision and law. (me)
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kristofvagyok
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Maybe I'm dumb, but in the lab, I have never ever seen that ferricyanides (potassium, ammonium ect.) would be stored in dark bottles, not even the
solid and not even the solution.
Allyl bromide is in a dark bottle, aniline, cresol, phenylhydrazine and some other highly activated organics is in a dark bottle, because they can do
funny things to light, but ferricyandes? Isn't that a bit too careful from nothing?
Also: if dark bottle is needed, then usually normal brown glass bottles are used, if there is a really sensitive stuff in the bottle then they use
brown glass bottles coated with black polymers.
I have a blog where I post my pictures from my work: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/
-Pictures from chemistry, check it out(:
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CHRIS25
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Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok  | Maybe I'm dumb, but in the lab, I have never ever seen that ferricyanides (potassium, ammonium ect.) would be stored in dark bottles, not even the
solid and not even the solution.
polymers. |
Hi there, Ok, when you mix the ammonium ferric citrate with the potassium ferricyanide, that is extremely sensitive to light. The solution is used to
sensitise paper ready for printing by the sun (ultra violet light), otherwise known as a cyanotype photograph. Hope this clarifies things.
‘Calcination… is such a Separation of Bodies by Fire, as makes ‘em easily reducible into Powder; and for that reason ‘tis call’d by some
Chymical Pulverization.’ (John Friend, Chymical Lectures London, 1712)
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. (William Penn 1644-1718)
The very nature of Random, Chance development precludes the existence of Order - strange that our organic and inorganic world is so well defined by
precision and law. (me)
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kristofvagyok
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| Quote: Originally posted by CHRIS25 |
Hi there, Ok, when you mix the ammonium ferric citrate with the potassium ferricyanide, that is extremely sensitive to light. The solution is used to
sensitise paper ready for printing by the sun (ultra violet light), otherwise known as a cyanotype photograph. Hope this clarifies things.
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Sorry, my fault, I thought that you want to store the solutions separately, not mixed.
If the photographic solution is mixed, then I would suggest brown glass with a polymer coating (somekind of tape).
I have a blog where I post my pictures from my work: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/
-Pictures from chemistry, check it out(:
"You can’t become a chemist and expect to live forever." |
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CHRIS25
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Thanks, Kristo.. So really black masking tape around a clear bottle would actually be enough?
‘Calcination… is such a Separation of Bodies by Fire, as makes ‘em easily reducible into Powder; and for that reason ‘tis call’d by some
Chymical Pulverization.’ (John Friend, Chymical Lectures London, 1712)
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. (William Penn 1644-1718)
The very nature of Random, Chance development precludes the existence of Order - strange that our organic and inorganic world is so well defined by
precision and law. (me)
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kristofvagyok
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Yes, that should be perfect.
Also a little additional info: normal borosilicate glass does not let UV light pass it, just quartz glass, plexy glass and some other special purpose
glasses let it through. The brown glass will also stop the rest also and just a few, mainly reddish low energy photon passes it.
I have a blog where I post my pictures from my work: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/
-Pictures from chemistry, check it out(:
"You can’t become a chemist and expect to live forever." |
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CHRIS25
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Krisof...just a quickie there, if you are knowledgeable in this area that is, between normal sodium silicate glass, plexi and perspex, which of these
allows more UV to pass through, UVB or UVA together or apart does not matter really, no need for absolute perfection here though, I was just curious
as to whether there was a difference.
‘Calcination… is such a Separation of Bodies by Fire, as makes ‘em easily reducible into Powder; and for that reason ‘tis call’d by some
Chymical Pulverization.’ (John Friend, Chymical Lectures London, 1712)
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. (William Penn 1644-1718)
The very nature of Random, Chance development precludes the existence of Order - strange that our organic and inorganic world is so well defined by
precision and law. (me)
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kristofvagyok
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UVA is not stopped by plexi, perspex just in max. 20%, normal borosilicate glass stops it in approx 70-90% depending to manufacturer.
UVB is stopped by borosilicate in +80%, perspex stops it partially, approx 30%.
It is suggested to put some UV dye in the glass, put it next to a UV lamp and watch how does it glow. Fluorescein is not good for this test, because
it also glows from near UV lights.
I have a blog where I post my pictures from my work: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/
-Pictures from chemistry, check it out(:
"You can’t become a chemist and expect to live forever." |
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CHRIS25
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Hi, Sorry, should have said that I was wanting the UVA/B and so am glad to have asked because that spares me the disappointment of getting perspex, I
nearly did. So ordinary glass or Plexiglass then is what I need, as little hinderance as possible is what I am after. (nothing to do with the storing
of the chemicals)
Thankyou for your input
‘Calcination… is such a Separation of Bodies by Fire, as makes ‘em easily reducible into Powder; and for that reason ‘tis call’d by some
Chymical Pulverization.’ (John Friend, Chymical Lectures London, 1712)
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. (William Penn 1644-1718)
The very nature of Random, Chance development precludes the existence of Order - strange that our organic and inorganic world is so well defined by
precision and law. (me)
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