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Question of the Past

Name: Anonymous 2007-09-26 3:45 ID:AMI0HX1T

I just remembered a question I had thought up a long time ago to ask my old Science Teacher but never did. Maybe you guys can answer me.

"If I took one of the most acidic substances Hydrochloric Acid and combined it with one of the most basic Sodium Hydroxide, would I be able to safely ingest the result? HCl+NaOH->NaCl+H2O seems to say "yes" the end result would be harmless salt water, but is this formula correct?

Name: Anonymous 2007-09-26 6:59 ID:1q4PCyJc

Most acidic substance:
Antimony Pentafluoride and Hydrofluoric acid.
Forms SbF^6- and H(+) basically.
(There are probably better versions now)

Most alkaline substance:
Probably something like sodamide in liquid ammonia.

Even if you got the stoichiometry exactly correct, you wouldn't want to drink that. It's below -78 C, and is a nice mixture of shit you wouldn't want to drink ever.  Although, in the sense that you have now got Na^+ SbF^6- and ammonia, it isn't as bad as drinking the original things.

Now, if you're talking about aqueous acids/bases, then we're not going to have the same problem with just generally toxic chemicals, except that most of the acids are very strong oxidising agents as well (nitric, periodic), and so would be dangerous generally.
Also, when you say "most acidic substances" hydrochloric acid, you do realise that hydrochloric is about the 'weakest' strong acid? Nitric and sulphuric are both significantly stronger.

Plus, your representation of the equation is slightly wrong, in that the lack of state symbols imply salt crystals crystalising out, but you're otherwise correct.
>>3
Why would you need the phenolphthalein? Just measure it accurately  with an indicator and then measure it accurately without. In the example, you'd have to really cock up to make something that'd do something seriously wrong though. I mean, you might get pH 10 or 4, but that isn't going to screw you up.

tl;dr
If you're doing it in solution and haven't cocked it up, you're probably not going to be wrong.

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