ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Something makes me think this thread is going to get us on some NSA watch list or something! 
-not ERD50
-not ERD50
Need Acid to Dramatically Dissolve Metal
- Thread starter TromboneAl
- Start date
38Chevy454
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Acid reacts fastest with metal oxides. The basic reaction without getting caught up in valence numbers, is the metal oxide is reduced to metal (+ ion) and oxygen (- ion), and then the acid (by definition, has excess H+ ions) forms H2O and absorbs the metal + ions. An electronic circuit does not have much metal oxide. Acids reacting with metal are relatively slow.
While it may not make for a lot of smoke or other reaction, you might just drown the electronics in a high conductivity liquid, that would essentially short out the circuits and make it dead.
While it may not make for a lot of smoke or other reaction, you might just drown the electronics in a high conductivity liquid, that would essentially short out the circuits and make it dead.
latexman
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Al, change the acid to hot caustic and make the metal aluminum. Hot 25% or 50% caustic (both concentrations are commercially available) will dissolve aluminum right before your eyes. Be careful though, the reaction also liberates hydrogen gas, which can build-up and/or disperse to find an ignition source. Then, BOOM!!!!! As a kid we used this reaction (balled up aluminum foil tossed into Coke bottle with room temperature Drano in it) to fill ballons with hydrogen gas. We'd release them to fly away, or we'd hit them with a flame and they'd go BOOM!!!!! Lots of fun!
Oh yeah, caustic is a base.
Oh yeah, caustic is a base.
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TromboneAl
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Here is that author, Andy Weir, giving a talk. It's one of the funniest youtubes I've seen.
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TromboneAl
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Thanks for the ideas. I've got something that works well, but I can't tell you more without spoiling the ending. Here's a non-spoiler snippet:
She pointed to the tank by the ceiling. “And that’s the acid that’s going to destroy it?”
“It’s not just acid. It’s some kind of super-corrosive liquid that the paranoid, evil doctor cooked up. And it’s not going to destroy it, because I’ve got a plan.”
“It’s not just acid. It’s some kind of super-corrosive liquid that the paranoid, evil doctor cooked up. And it’s not going to destroy it, because I’ve got a plan.”
