jamit - 7-11-2014 at 01:25
I live in the midwest USA where the winter gets below -10 to -20 C. My lab is in the garage and it gets below freezing for about 4 months of the
year. My question: while it's ideal to store chemicals in a dry and moderate temperature, would it be ok to store general chemicals in the garage --
such as potassium chromate, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, ammonium molybdate, etc.
I realize that some things like glacial acetic acid and benzene or phenol needs to be stored at room temperature -- so that in a different location
inside. But beside such chemicals, should I be worried about chemical degradation?
CuReUS - 7-11-2014 at 03:03
glacial acetic acid and phenol needs to be stored at room temperature because they freeze ,not because they decompose .benzene can be stored in a
fridge
see this video (at 7:53 and 10:23)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Vvhkz8IrE
he prepares benzene from sodium benzoate and puts it in a freezer
generally people worry about high temperature because pressure can build up in the bottles and cause an explosion .among the chemicals you mention
,only HCl is capable of forming vapors ,as sulphuric acid is viscous and not so volatile and the others are solid
so i dont think you will have much of a problem
phlogiston - 7-11-2014 at 03:15
Aqeous solutions will expand upon freezing and can break a container.
Other than that, most chemicals should be fine at those temperatures. The ones that you mention certainly are.
Some solvents may freeze if it gets cold enough, but they'll thaw and be unaffected when they warm up.
Enzymes can sometimes become inactive when you freeze them, because the formation of water crystals disrupts their structure (hydrogen bonds with
water molecules can be critical for stabilizing their active structure).