Recent content by dacarls

12 volts is better for aluminum. Titanium too. The clips used in commercial anodizing of aluminum parts are titanium clips. They never get too much coating. With Ti it happens quickly too.

When a voltage of about 12 volts DC of course and a bunch of amps (25 A) is applied to raw aluminum suspended in 15% sulfuric acid bath, with a large carbon rod/pipe/plate as the cathode, anodization occurs. Aluminum oxide forms at the surface and continues down into the metal, forming...

"Bolt action" describes a hand-operated moveable mechanism that locks a metallic cartridge in place in the "firing chamber" of a typical rifle. A pointed cylindrical bullet fired from such a rifle with spiral rifling in the barrel will spin, thereby contributing to stable, straight flight of...

Elements can be highly reactive- like sodium...It wants to give away one electron like crazy: It will donate this electron to almost any other element. Now it is sodium+1, an ion. A Chlorine atom is also reactive, but it wants an electron so badly that it usually shares one with another...

I think what is fun is that beeswax is species specific. In addition to the long-chain waxes, the long-chain hydrocarbons dissolved in this wax are species-specific. Africanized honeybee hydrocarbons are statistically different from European honeybee hydrocarbons, as well as all the other Apis...

There is a whole science to distillation. That is why I said you must condense the distilling vapors by cooling-- back to liquid, then catch the liquid distillate in a container. One can distill ethyl alcohol or gasoline this way safely. I have done it with n-hexane, a highly flammable...

I don't know what the mixture is in the thinner! Boil it to find out. If it is like jet fuel (most likely) maybe 130 degrees F. Use a thermometer, stick it down a straight vertical tube near the top. When the vapors start to come out the top. look at the thermometer. Distillers use a T-top...

Boil the stinky solvent in open air, in a closed container, vented only with a metal (copper?) 1/2 inch diameter vertical tube 2 feet tall, with a long 100 degree bent end 2 feet long at the top. Use an electric plate-type heater which will be quite safe. The boiling solvent will "reflux" in...

Adding new stinky volatile chemicals would certainly double the stink. But not "remove" the first odor of still-present volatile compounds that will still be present, still evaporating from your unchanged paint thinner. Covering up- let us say- fecal odors is pretty difficult too. Why not...

You already have data for ethanol solubility, so you use more highly concentrated ethanol. The best way is to use 90 percent ethanol, so add measured amount of this concentrated ethanol until your solute dissolves.

You are just trying too hard. Look at it from the other end. Its just palin old 1-butyl acetate ( butyl acetate for short is ok.) plus a 3-methyl group. so- 3-methylbutyl acetate Example: -----------------------------------------------------------------CH3...

Gasoline is a homogeneous solution of long-chain hydrocarbons, not an emulsion like milk. It is sprayed into cylinders as fine droplets. It remains a solution. If there is water present, acetone will help dissolve it into a homogeneous solution. When there is too much water, it will fall out...

This is good news if only for a Chicago deuxchevaux. How about old VWs? Does it increase mileage at all? 10% is good increase,and I cannot imagine any difference in wear between 0.2% and 0.3% of acetone. Since gasohol costs almost 20% in mileage, can acetone bring it back/ increase it a bit...

Palladin: I see a statement of your opinion. Why not?

Who can do this Physics calculation? Is it possible to pump liquid nitrogen through an insulated pipe past 1 mile of water to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, then down the now short riser, into the leaking oil well riser? If so, how far down into the well would the liquid N2 have to be...