Duster - 19-7-2003 at 11:06
Bit new here so hope i dont piss anyone off... anyway
Ive been looking around for an afordable way to make nitric acid. All the ways I have seen involve expensive condensers and what not... though I did
find this:
http://www.geocities.com/brainfevert/hno3.html
It looks like it would work (hell it has pictures), but I would much rather make sure you guys (read: people who know what they are talking about)
approve of such a process? And if so what sort of plastic should be used for the top?
And lastly to obtain pure sulfuric acid you can indeed boil off any water?
Thank you again and sorry if these questions are redundent.
Edit: After reading, I hope I put this in the right fourm...
[Edited on 19-7-2003 by Duster]
a123x - 19-7-2003 at 11:18
Yes the method on brain fever does indeed work. I use it except I don't use plastic sheet. I use part of a light fixture(it is a glass bowl shape
with a conical bottom). I think HDPE should be the best type of plastic sheet to use since it is readily available and should hold up to nitric acid.
Also you can indeed just boil sulfuric acid to concentrate it, when thick white fumes come off it should be 95%+. You'll need to do that in a
proper heat resistant beaker or flask though since it takes a very high
temperature to do it which will likely crack normal glass and the sulfuric acid at that temperature will rapidly corrode steel.
This really sohuld be in general chemistry though.
Duster - 19-7-2003 at 11:59
Alright, thank you very much, and I apoligize about the off topic post.
Edit: I was looking around and notice a few places sell (I think) pure sulphuric acid, though I noticed here http://www.sciencelab.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY...
they have the first two which have an 18M in the name... and the latter two do not. I know its not a measurement of quantity because at teh end they
have 500ml or 1L (I would assume liter). So whats with the 18M?
Edit: spelling
[Edited on 20-7-2003 by Duster]
a123x - 19-7-2003 at 18:00
Actually it says 18M. This means 18 molar. This means there are 18 moles of sulfuric acid per 1L of the solution. You should read up on what a
mole(the chemisty meaning of course) is. Anyway 18M should be just a little under 98% I believe.
blip - 19-7-2003 at 18:10
a123x, you beat me to the 18M explaination as I was previewing my post! 
I find
it sort of an adventure to find chemicals in fairly common items rather than buy them from suppliers. For example, sulfuric acid can be found in the
toilet bowl cleaners that are in bags in hardware stores. I heard that NaBr and
K<sub>2</sub>S<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub> were found at Home Depot for pool bromination. A recent find was <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Canyon/2609/cleaners.html" target="_blank">oxalic acid in Zud cleaner</a>. Check out
<a href="http://www.rhodium.ws/" target="_blank">rhodium.ws</a> for some good chemical preps, it's not just for
drug preps.
[Edited on 21-7-2003 by blip]
CROpyrO - 1-8-2003 at 11:17
i know this is for elecrochemistry but anyway . when i let elecricity through solution of AN in water , will it form nitric acid and ammonia ???? if
yes this could very simple to make , for more information see a good topic on electrochemistry . 
Haggis - 1-8-2003 at 12:05
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=803
shadeT - 4-8-2003 at 08:55
how concetrated is sulfuric acid from a car battery . i can get good amounts of it but i don't know if it is good concetration . can i realy
concetrate this acid by just heating it untill white fumes come ? thanks for your help 
vulture - 4-8-2003 at 12:02
Search the forum. I'm not going to repeat something that has been said almost a thousand times.
What a fucken waste
Richy - 5-8-2003 at 01:03
Just the other day in science, we were using 70% HNO3 for the purpose of generating hydrogen gas! hydrogen gas! why the hell not use HCl ($10/gallon)
for the same purpose!??!?! In a period, the class had gone through about 600ml of 70%+ HNO3.... brings tears to my eyes
Mahlzahn - 22-4-2005 at 06:36
Destilling dilute (fuming white) HNO3 from AN + H2SO4 are not so agressive than with KN/NaN.
It`s easy destilling the dilute HNO3 at second time with H2SO4 to remove the water and yield fuming red HNO3 
. (bound the rest water on the H2SO4)
Good incursion brainvert`s apparatus, when no destillation equippment available.
(glas-cylinder working better,filled with ice)
[Edited on 23-4-2005 by Mahlzahn]
One problem
chloric1 - 23-4-2005 at 06:08
Ammonium Nitrate is dehydrated to nitramide then to nitrous oxide. Use only potasssium nitrate and sodium nitrate for your nitric acid synthesis.
Oh yea and Richy...remember it is OK to waste good chems if someone else is paying for it. Alot of chemistry teachers in high school only have a basic
grasp on chemistry in my experience. So for them nitric acid, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric they are all strong whats the difference.
Well that is why we need to maintain our own social branch of science if it is going to be maintained at an intelligent manner.
[Edited on 4/23/2005 by chloric1]