Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Particulate Comparison Between Potassium Hydroxide and Borax

I perform a comparison between potassium hydroxide and borax. I was a bit disappointed with the precipitation of the KOH before the test started. This leads me to believe my supply of KOH is not technical grade.





For the one poster that asked, Tecnical grade KOH can be found at Hvchemical.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok where on earth do we get technical grade KOH?

Anonymous said...

I went to that chemical web site you cited and find a 1.0 liter container for around $ 24.00 plus shipping--technical grade KOH. Have you find what the shelf life for technical KOH to be? I would think 1 liter would last at least 2 yrs. Too bad that smaller quanties of technical grade couldn't be attained. What's your take on all of the above?

Thanks for all your effort with the realist testing concepts--its refreshing to have access to real observational data!

Charlie Ehler said...

Both KOH and NaOH strongly absorb water from air so the lid has to be kept tightly closed when not drawing some for use.

The shelf life should be indefinate unless water absorbtion affects the chemical composition in some way that I don't anticipate.

Charlie Ehler

signal conditioners said...

Yes, I agree with Charlie that both KOH and NaOH strongly absorb moisture inthe air so its better to cover the cap tightly so that the moisture cannot enter the drawing some for use.

This is a great effort and I appreciate you for your effort.