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Author: Subject: Improvised Sodium Hydroxide
unionised
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[*] posted on 5-7-2006 at 10:22


I'm not saying that reaction doesn't happen but since Na2CO3 melts at well over 800C it's not going to be easy to get any useful yeild.
Safety data sheets are some of the least useful documents ever produced; in this case they will include the possibillity of Na2O and CO2 being produced because they might get sued if they overlook any potential risk.
Let's face it, by the time those fumes were doing anyone any damage they would have cooled down enough for the carbonate to reform or they would be so hot it wouldn't matter what the fumes were.
This site
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/compounds.html
makes a comment about this problem.


[Edited on 5-7-2006 by unionised]
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jimmyboy
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[*] posted on 5-7-2006 at 15:36


yeah i just threw that in there because i saw a few old texts saying the oxide would be formed with alot of heat - but that route would be pretty difficult and inefficient
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franklyn
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[*] posted on 6-7-2006 at 18:30


Oh yeah that makes a lot of sense, first heat Lime in a Coke Oven
to get Quick Lime, Add that to a soapy liquor of Soda Ash to strip
away it's CO2 leaving relatively pure Lye in solution. Why save a
step and miss all that fun. While admittedly more convenient you
still have to buy Calcium hydroxide, so just buy the Lye instead
at a hardware store, or E-Bay ->
http://search.ebay.com/Sodium-Hydroxide-Lye-Caustic-Soda-NaO...

What is it with you wet chemists that you can't stand the heat of
the kitchen. How do you think this is done by third world soap
producers, they actually begin extraction by first leaching the
Soda Ash from seaweed ashes.

See in the middle of this page "TO BE READ BY ANOTHER STUDENT" how
Potassium Hydroxide ( Potash ) was made ->
http://www.nps.gov/colo/TEACHERS/SG_Act/Glasshouse.htm

Another reference bottom of this page ->
http://www.violetcrownsoap.com/soap_history.html

It is likely that heating the powder while the container is vacuumed
will speed things along, or you could just run a tube to a another
container filled with water to absorb the CO2. Electrolysis of brine
is easiest but then you have all that chlorine to safely dispose of.
I had not realized there is another thread on this already _
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=1106

I am surprised at the length and controversy of this thread, over
a substance so basic ( pun intended ) it barely merits being called
a chemical. Whats funny in all this is that I'm the one who is not
a chemist.

.

[Edited on 7-7-2006 by franklyn]
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YT2095
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[*] posted on 7-7-2006 at 00:19


it would be a good idea that when you do obtain your KOH or NaOH soln that you evaporate it down to a solid ASAP, as left in the air for any length of time it will convert back to the carbonate again :(



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12AX7
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[*] posted on 7-7-2006 at 13:46


Hell, it will anyway... damned hygroscopicity :rolleyes:

Sealing solution or solid in a container will help nicely with that.

Tim




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