[Rockhounds] CO2 (WAS muriatic acid for cleaning)

[Glenn Wimpee]

The utility industry has had many fatalities due to the available oxygen being replaced buy workers in confined spaces, especially manholes. But these deaths were due to suffocation caused by lack of oxygen, not a "poisoning" effect of CO2.
 
The same thing has happened to cave divers who have found neat air pockets in underwater caverns and just breath the oxygen poor "air".
By the way, all the info about using Muriatic acid for cleaning limestone matrix seems very on the mark. If one has no one else from whom to get good advice, any good concrete worker and most swimming pool owners use it with few problems. Respect, basic knowledge, and care of this chemical as well as most others is always a necessary part for safety and success.
 
My 2 cents is to watch your specimens closely and observe how fast the unwanted material is dissolved and to avoid destroying the target. Someone suggested starting with vinegar which is a fairlly safe weak acid. Then I noted adding muriatic to water at about 50%. That is alao good advice. And you can try other mixes like 25% acid to water and increase the acid percent until you get a satisfactory "clean rate".
 
ALL acid work should be done with goggles or face shield, protective clothing, rubber gloves and other appropriate safety gear. And keep a gallon or 2 of baking soda and water close at hand in case of an accident to neutralize the acid.
 
We keep baking soda water near our battery racks in the telco switching offices in case of acid accidents. It is labeled eye wash. And acid in ones eyes is BAD.
Glenn 

> Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 11:13:09 -0400> From: codeburner at gmail.com> To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] muriatic acid for cleaning...> > I wasn't thinking of asphyxiation, if I understand this correctly the CO2> concentration in the air is the controlling feedback mechanism for the human> respiration system. Elevated levels of CO2 interfere with the system, this> is not a short term effect of course so brief exposures to higher CO2 levels> are not a problem.> > BK> > I know of no cases of death or illness from breathing CO2 except when a> > freakish natural event released a huge volume of the gas in a lake which was> > in a valley and all the animals died. CO2 is much heavier than air and the> > gas cloud clings to low elevations. You'd likely breathe more CO2 by> > inhaling over a freshly poured glass of seltzer water than from cleaning> > minerals. Yes, those bubbles in soda are CO2.> >> > 
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