From: Russell Vernon <russell.vernon**At_Symbol_Here**UCR.EDU>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Acetic Acid & Nitric Acid compatability
Date: June 10, 2013 10:51:32 PM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <BE28425130279043A5B92A2BC7116E230FB3E028**At_Symbol_Here**EXCH-MBOX-2.exch.ucr.edu>


Dear Learned Ones…

 

Several years ago when confronted with the assertion that we couldn’t store nitric acid and acetic acid together (or nitric acid n a wooden shelf) because they were incompatible I conducted an experiment.

1.    I took glacial acetic acid and added concentrated nitric acid while stirring, anticipating a reaction… nothing happened. It didn’t get hot, cold or have gas evolve

2.    So after reaching a 50:50 mix I began heating while stirring (did I mention this was in a hood with proper PPE and a written procedure way back in the early 1990’s)

3.    I got in boiling and still there was no obvious reaction.

 

4.    Now I added pencil shavings in small amounts in the belief it would catch on fire…

5.    Nothing apparent happened.

6.    So I added more.

 

7.    Finally after 20 minutes mild boiling with concentrated nitric, glacial acetic and wood pieces I squirted just a drop of acetone a definitely got the reaction I expected (flame)

 

Does anyone have a real world experience where nitric acid caused an unwanted reaction with acetic acid or a wooden shelf?

 

Sincerely,

-Russ

 

Russell Vernon, Ph.D.

Director

Environmental Health & Safety

University of California, Riverside

900 University Ave

Riverside, CA 92521

www.ehs.ucr.edu

russell.vernon**At_Symbol_Here**ucr.edu

 

Direct (951) 827-5119

Admin (951) 827-5528

Fax (951) 827-5122

 

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.