Saerynide - 3-5-2004 at 00:56
I have this el-cheapo silver cleaner I got at flea market and its totally unlabeled and its been dyed hot pink.
When used to clean tarnished silver (Ag2S), it gives off H2S (or maybe its SO2 but Ive never smelled that before so Im not sure, but either way, Im
sure its a sulfurous gas). However, sitting on its own in the bottle, it reacts strongly with air - enough to collapse parts of the plastic container
its in due to the vacuum created! As it sits on its own, it also makes offwhite coloured pelletlike precipitate, presumably from reacting with the
air? The liquid also oxidizes stainless steel, copper and aluminum 
Does anyone have an idea what this could be or any interesting ways to abuse it? 
I am a fish - 3-5-2004 at 01:08
I've seen silver cleaners that are acidified solutions of thiocarbamide (AKA thiourea). Be careful, as this is carcinogenic.
I have never actually bought such products, as pure thiourea is available for a much lower price from photographic suppliers.
[Edited on 3-5-2004 by I am a fish]
darkflame89 - 4-5-2004 at 02:40
Ha, i have seen such silver cleaners too in Singapore. Usually, the label, those in the DIY shops, states that it contains HCl. I think your bottle
contains a fair amt. of HCl. As such when this dilute acid reacts with silver sulfide, i think hydrogen sulfide is given off.
Saerynide - 4-5-2004 at 04:12
Would acidified thiourea react with air to make beige granules? Unless.... its reacting with the plastic container it came in
edit: Ive searched far and wide and I cant seem to find any info on silver cleaners that react with air on their own 
[Edited on 4-5-2004 by Saerynide]
Esplosivo - 4-5-2004 at 23:24
The beige granules could be due to some polymerization of some sort. The beige colour probably coming from salts present to dye the solution.
Try mixing some of this 'xilver cleaner' with sodium carbonate/hydrogen carbonate. If efferevescence occurs it's acidic. You could also
judge the degree of acidity by the rate of CO2 gas given off, but thats just basic. Nothing near to quantitative analysis 
Anyway, I cannot possibly imagine how this cleaner can react with air, being an acid. IF its acidic it maybe could be sulphuric acid which absorbs
moisture from the air, but that is highly improbable since the acid would be already dilute. It couls be some form of an alkaline solution like KOH
which absorbs CO2 from the air. I've had bottles of KOH soln seal up so strongly that they could not be opened up.
unionised - 8-5-2004 at 08:11
If it were a strong base and trapped all the CO2 from the air in the bottle then the pressure would fall. There is about 300 ppm of CO2 in the air so
the pressure would fall by about 0.004 PSI. I really don't think that would stop you opening the bottle.
Given that acidified thiourea is used as a silver cleaner and that it isn't stable (hydrolysis to ammonia CO2 and H2S) and given that H2S will
slowly reduce oxygen (thereby reducing the volume) and form sulphur (a precipitate), I think we could do worse han to assume that Saerynide's
stuff is acidified thiourea.
Saerynide - 9-5-2004 at 07:00
Now that you've mentioned it, those granules do look like sulfur Ive
been pondering for so long what that hot pink crap was. Finally an answer, thanks guys
darkflame89 - 10-5-2004 at 01:39
Sulfur, pink? Am i missing something here?
Saerynide - 10-5-2004 at 01:40
Its been dyed pink
darkflame89 - 10-5-2004 at 01:52
Any pics to show this?
Saerynide - 10-5-2004 at 02:50
The yellow stuff is the sulfur:
Edit: Oops forgot the pic
[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Saerynide]
axehandle - 10-5-2004 at 07:10
Looks exactly like sulfur.
darkflame89 - 11-5-2004 at 00:34
Oh boy, now we can get sulfur by just buying tons of this! Then i do not have to worry so much about finding a sulphur source. ( haha, you know what i
am ranting about. I must have gone crazy over making strong acids at home)
Where do you buy that? I have got to buy 10 bottles of it
[Edited on 11-5-2004 by darkflame89]