[Jewelry making - Article 01566] - Re: [Orchid] Why Hydrofluoric acid is so dangerous

[Jim]

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    Before retiring, I was employed by a major aerospace contractor. One
    compound a lab tech demonstrated to a group of workers one day was a
    dilute mixture of hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric
    acid. The final mixture was ten percent the three acids (I forgot
    how much of each acid) and ninety percent distilled water. Several
    years later, one "super smart" salaried type decided that I had to
    keep the stuff at my work station and use it daily in my normal task.
    I started asking for the MSDS for the compound and for each acid in
    the compound. It seems that one of the acids should NOT be in contact
    with aluminum (guess what we used the stuff on), and two of the
    acids should not be in contact with each other. The next order of
    business was to start asking about safety equipment and precautions.
    The company said that there was a shower within 50 feet and that
    should be close enough. I told them I wanted a glove box and a new
    shower within fifteen feet of the work station. Less than two weeks
    after the stuff was put on my table, it disappeared without comment.
    I did not miss it any. 

Jim
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