[Rockhounds] attacking quartz without hydrofluoric acid

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

It is my understanding that quartz is usually precipitated by alkaline
solutions. Adding heat and pressure may dissolve existing quartz without
the use of Fluorine.

Kreigh


Erich Kern wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> BTW, if you wet your hand with fresh water before putting it in an acid solution, it helps a great deal to minimise skin irritation.
> 
> Erich Kern
> Murrieta, Calif.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Rik Dillen
> To: 'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors'
> Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 7:11 AM
> Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] attacking quartz without hydrofluoric acid
> 
> Ammonium hydrogen fluoride (NH4)HF2 or sodium hydrogen fluoride are somewhat milder, but even those are extremely
> harmful substances that provoke bad burning wounds and if a drop touches the eye it can be lost in seconds !
> All these products should be used only by trained professional chemists !
> Greetings,
> 
> Rik DILLEN
> Doornstraat 15, B-9170 Sint-Gillis-Waas
> Belgium
> E-mail rik.dillen at skynet.be
> Homepage : http://users.skynet.be/rik.dillen
> 
> MINERANT 2008 - 26-27 April 2008
> Bouwcentrum (Antwerp Expo)
> Jan Van Rijswijcklaan 191 Antwerpen
> http://www.minerant.org/mka/minerantnl.html
> Mineral collector's page http://www.minerant.org/
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Sicree, Andrew,
> Ph.D.
> Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 3:57 PM
> To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
> Subject: [Rockhounds] attacking quartz without hydrofluoric acid
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knew of any ways
> to get rid of quartz (such as in encrustations)
> without use of hydrofluoric acid.
> 
> Andy Sicree
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> 
> Andrew A. Sicree, Ph.D.
> P. O. Box 10664
> State College PA 16805
> (814) 867-6263
> sicree at verizon.net