[Jewelry making - Article 01465] - Re: [Orchid] Why Hydrofluoric acid is so dangerous

[John Donivan]

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Bruce

    You are lucky, I worked for a micro-hybrid facility and this was the
    only substance we had the techs don a full 'space suit' 

    Just by way of conversation, and maybe a bit of inspiration...I'm a
    civilian army brat - aerospace - so I moved every two years or less.
    One time we moved, and I walked into a chemistry class in the 2nd
    week of school. The teacher told me there was a test on the element
    symbols the next day, but I didn't have to take it if I didn't want
    to. So, I went home and memorized the periodic chart and got a 98 on
    the test the next day. ( Not so hard - 80% or something of them are
    the first letter - carbon C, oxygen O). Later on, I became a lab
    assistant and had a somewhat advanced lab in my bedroom. My
    fascination, as I've learned many others share, was the elements.
    With the help of the old-school Encyclopedia Britannica, I set out
    to extract as many elements as I could and start a collection. Being
    poor and smart I knew that there were many that were simply
    impossible - sodium requires electrolosys and it's dangerous, not to
    mention uranium and fluorine. I got pretty far, though - most of the
    common metals, iodine, bromine - got a bit of a burn off that one.
    My goal wasn't to just buy graphite, it was to extract it from a
    source myself. I made everything myself beyond what could be bought
    at the hobby store in those little jars - acids, bases,
    intermediates. It was fun and I also learned much about how those
    building blocks work, and work together. Why is carbon carbon and
    iron iron? Which of course leads to what steel is about, eventually.
    It's a shame that modern (American) curriculum is often strangled by
    other forces - I know a few college kids who have never taken
    chemistry. That means they don't know how fire works, really. This
    is all just converstion, but some knowlege of chemistry will help to
    understand many things - nutrition, vitamins, which acids dissolve
    which metals. Why not to pour what is almost liquid fluorine on your
    hand (HF). Anyway, enough musings. A good start for any who could
    use it might be Wikipedia - search for "perioodic chart", and start
    clicking on the elements. Cool stuff. 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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