Gremory - 3-1-2020 at 03:44
I've forgotten where I got this idea, but it seems to me that it would be pretty easy to make sulfuric acid from a sulfate salt, and oxalic acid. If
the corresponding oxalate salt to the sulfate used is insoluble, it should precipitate out, leaving dilute sulfuric acid.
A good sulfate salt to use seems to be MgSO4, because it's cheap and magnesium oxalate is apparently pretty insoluble.
The dilute sulfuric acid could probably be concentrated by boiling off most of the water, then by distillation to bring it up to 98%?
This is my first post on this forum, and I'm still learning chemistry in school, so I'd appreciate it if you guys could point out any obvious reasons
why this won't work, or isn't feasible if there are any.
njl - 3-1-2020 at 08:10
I'm happy to see someone in the same boat as me! As a beginner it was also hard for me to get my hands on sulfuric acid. I'm definitely no authority
on the subject, but I don't think this prep will work. As far as I know, you won't be able to efficiently make a stronger acid from a weaker one. Your
best bet is to try to find some acid at the hardware store (Ace near me sells it as drain cleaner by the quart/half gallon/gallon). I think it's
pretty cheap too, but it probably has a bunch of junk in it to prevent pipe corrosion.
Amos - 3-1-2020 at 08:30
This topic has been beaten to death in several threads already. The answer is yes, this works to produce dilute sulfuric acid. Here's a couple threads
(google searched "site:sciencemadness.com oxalic to sulfuric acid"), but be sure to search the forums next time before creating a new thread
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=18963
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=104319
[Edited on 1-3-2020 by Amos]