BAH.

[happychemist]

This week has to end. And I have to just calm down.

Or find a hole and hide from life.

Oh sansceo and R, why did you leave me to this!?!

Life isn't that crappy. Crappier things have happened. Which makes me feel even more pissed off that these little details can get to me.

Comments

*coddles Crystal*

[alysonl.livejournal.com]

I'll give you the same inner wound-patching I gave Vicky a few days back:


As a gift for you, I hereby declare tomorrow the last working day of the week! And I'll let you stay home from the lab on Monday, as well. I like to do those sorts of things when I can. :)

(What did they leave you to? It sounds so tragic!)

Oh by the way (could my timing be worse? ignore me if you want--) Christian wants to know does acid dissolve glass? If not, why?

Re: *coddles Crystal*

[happychemist.livejournal.com]

First of all, thanks. *hugs* Nothing too serious. Just lots of little annoyances that have piled up.

(And, because you asked for it...I swear. It started out as a paragraph. And then it just imploded. If I'm unclear, please tell me!)

Most acids actually don't dissolve glass. In fact, I actually have an acid bath here in my lab that I use to clean glassware, because the acid pretty much reacts with everything BUT the glass :)

Acids are generally extremely corrosive, meaning that they assist in the oxidation of metals. They do this by being electron acceptors:

Fe(solid) --> Fe2+(aqueous) + 2 electrons

1/2 O2(gas) + 2 H3O+(aq...this is where your acid goes) + 2 electrons --> 3 H2O

Glass is in actuality silicon dioxide, which remains relatively inert to most chemistry, which is why it's a good container for reactions in general. Moreover, lab glassware doesn't have much metal in it, thereby not making it susceptible to the same kind of reactions. This is really neat for me, because most of the gunk I can't get off my glassware is metal-based. So by sticking it into the acid bath, the stuff usually gets oxidized and dissolved into the solution, leaving clean glass!

There is one acid, however, that is very well-known for reacting with glass, and surprisingly, it's only a weak acid: Hydrogen fluoride! Hydrogen fluoride is unlike the strong halogen acids (chloride, bromide, iodide) because that HF bond is strong; that fluoride ion is extremely electronegative and thereby wants to keep those positive charges from the H+ (or H3O+, in the case of aqueous solutions).

Hydrogen fluoride is actually commonly used to etch glass. The reaction that does this is:

4 HF (liquid) + SiO2(solid) --> SiF4(gas) + 2 H2O (liquid).

This doesn't mean that you should go out and buy some HF to try it out; Hydrogen fluoride is poisonous and causes serious burns!!!!!!!

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweetie! *hugs you*