Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Salt & Vinegar

Clonejeffie - 22-2-2017 at 18:05

I have heard from a few different places that mixing lots of salt with vinegar somehow makes Hydrochloric acid and im guessing sodium acetate.
I tried this a few months ago and i added hydrogen peroxide because i was trying to make rust.
I was just going to use the vinegar/H2O2 to make it but i added salt thinking that it would make it stronger.Now that i have been trying to filter the rust out the solution is a sort of dark amber color its not cloudy it is definitely a skin irritant. I think its iron chloride but im not sure.

[Edited on 2-23-2017 by Clonejeffie]

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DraconicAcid - 22-2-2017 at 18:50

Quote: Originally posted by Clonejeffie  
I have heard from a few different places that mixing lots of salt with vinegar somehow makes Hydrochloric acid and im guessing sodium acetate.


I've read that, too, but only in children's books. It's not true. Adding salt to vinegar will make it slightly more corrosive to metals and metal oxides because the chloride ion will tend to coordinate to the metal ions and help solubilize them.

What you have in your solution is probably a mixture of iron(III) ions, some of them partially hydrolyzed, others possibly coordinated by chloride. If you add a small amount of baking soda, that should precipitate the iron out as rust.

Clonejeffie - 22-2-2017 at 21:31

DraconicAcid Thanks

CharlieA - 23-2-2017 at 18:08

You mixed salt (NaCl, I assume), vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide, and tried to filter out rust (Fe2O3, I presume); where did the Fe come from? Are you claiming to have effected a transmutation of elements? :D

Clonejeffie - 23-2-2017 at 18:45

CharlieA The iron came from some steel wool, a chunk of old iron(dont know what it is) and nails. I have already added sodium bicarbonate which precipitated the other stuff.

CharlieA - 24-2-2017 at 06:38

Nuts! I thought you were on to something that the alchemists missed!:):):) What are your plans for the rust?

Clonejeffie - 24-2-2017 at 06:44

CharlieA I was going to use it for thermite and coloring my clay graphite crucibles.

And very funny

[Edited on 2-24-2017 by Clonejeffie]

Liamatpm - 22-3-2017 at 09:31

I agree with DraconicAcid. But I can not understand why (some) books say that.