Which is part of the reason why I was stunned to find this in my trunk:
And so, to the more hard-science minded than I,
Any ideas?
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Chemists... help?
When I was younger, I wanted to be a biochemist. Somewhere along the way, I changed my mind, but the building blocks of this world have always intrigued me.
Which is part of the reason why I was stunned to find this in my trunk:
Originally, this was an ordinary bucket hook (which I believe is made from stainless steel); however, at some point a couple of days earlier, bleach spilled in one of the plastic containers in the trunk—making contact with a baking soda air freshener that I keep back there to curb the smell of gasoline, paint thinner, and other undesirables for a vehicle. This unknown compound is what resulted. It almost seems like rust, but of a different, spikier structure. I am highly curious as to what exactly it is.
And so, to the more hard-science minded than I,
Any ideas?
Which is part of the reason why I was stunned to find this in my trunk:
And so, to the more hard-science minded than I,
Any ideas?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most likely Chlorine or Carbonate based, but it probbaly ate the coating off the hook. Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate and Bleach is Sodium HypoChlorite.
ReplyDeleteSo NaHCO3 + NaOCl --> NaCl + H2O + Na2CO3
So Sodium Carbonate is my guess. I don't know how it balances out cause I am too lazy to do the math but yeah.
It's been a while since Gen Chem, but I'm pretty sure that both baking soda and bleach are pretty strong bases which would (and I could have this completely backwards) oxidize that metal fairly quickly.
ReplyDelete