I have successfully purchased everything*! I got the pavers, spray bottles, sakrete dissolver, calcium chloride, gypsum, flammable alcohol, ammonia, and hydrochloric acid from Home Depot. I also just bought some 3% Hydrogen Peroxide from Walgreens because they don't have that at Home Depot. I already have liquid chlorine bleach and vinegar. I will buy some coca-cola from 7-11 when I need it, and Natalia Denenberg is going to Monterey Bay for her 20 Time so she will fill up a bottle of seawater for me there.
*I emailed San Jose Scientific about the Sulfuric and Nitric acid and here is what they said-
Thank you for your inquiry. We do carry both of those items in our Retail store we currently only sell these as Pints & Gallons. Though we do have Sulfuric Acid in a 1.0N solution in a liter $24.95.
Sulfuric Acid - Pint 95-98% $44.95, Gallon 96% $61.95
Nitric Acid - Pint 68-70% $44.95, Gallon 69% $53.95
I'm quite sure both sulfuric and nitric acid will just completely ruin the concrete without making it pervious or anything. So rather than spending 90 bucks for 2 pints of chemical which will probably do the exact same thing, I will be ditching the nitric acid and only purchasing sulfuric acid.
I don't exactly need a gallon though, because that's more than 7 times the 500ml of chemical I need. But I need more than a pint because that is about 30ml less than the 500ml I need. And because I can't just ask them to fill up a 500ml cup or something, it looks like I will just be choosing between 473ml of 97% sulfuric acid or 1000ml of 5% (see below for how I calculated) sulfuric acid.
After much deliberation, I have decided to spend $25 on the 5% sulfuric acid. Although it has a concentration that is suboptimal, handling 97% sulfuric acid is extremely dangerous and I don't want to risk it. In addition, the 5% solution has double the volume I need, and there are ways to purify sulfuric acid by boiling solutions of lower concentrations. Having an extra 500ml to play around with may allow me to synthesize some purer sulfuric acid and use that on the concrete slab that would have originally be used for nitric acid. So now slab 2 has 5% sulfuric acid and slab 11 has sulfuric acid of a higher concentration that I will make.
How I calculated the percentage concentration of the 1.0N Sulfuric acid solution-
1.0N H2SO4 = 0.5M H2SO4
Molar mass of H2SO4 = 98.079 g/mol
0.5M x 98.079grams/mol = 49.0395grams
Mass of 1 liter of water = 1000.028 grams
49.0395/1000.028 = 0.04903812693
0.04903812693 x 100 = 4.903812693
~4.9% Sulfuric acid solution
Finding a place to purchase dry ice was annoying. I first searched up "dry ice" on google maps to find stores that might sell them. After digging through tons of industrial gas vendor websites, I landed on a wikihow page about how to buy dry ice. It said that most grocery stores including Safeway carried dry ice. I actually needed dry ice in 6th grade but never got it even after going from store to store for an entire day. But I decided to try calling up the nearest Safeway. They said that although they don't carry dry ice, a Safeway on El Camino does. I called the El Camino location up and was quite surprised that they actually do carry dry ice. Unfortunately, they are out of stock till Thursday, which is fine because I won't actually need it until Friday evening.
If I have 500ml of chemical, that means there will be a 0.2in. layer above each sq. inch of concrete if slab is 1 sq ft.
Already ordered
Already have
Have plan to get but haven’t gotten yet
No idea how to get
Concrete Pavers
http://www.homedepot.com/p/12-in-x-12-in-Pewter-Concrete-Step-Stone-71200/100333077
Spray Bottles
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Continental-24-oz-Sprayer-and-Bottle-3-per-Pack-CMC9223SP/205907081
1. Sakrete Dissolver
2. Sulfuric Acid
(I will pick it up from the store)
3. Carbonated Water Liquid
Use regular american coca-cola
4. Calcium Chloride
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Snow-Joe-10-lb-Jug-Calcium-Chloride-Crystals-Ice-Melter-MELT10CC-J/205668956
5. Gypsum dissolved in water
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Arizona-s-Best-0-5-cu-ft-Gypsum-433675/202311920
6. Seawater (or water with high salt concentration)
Natalia will give from Monterey Bay
7. Oil and then light on fire (not sure whether this will work and I might not actually do this)
Ethanol- http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-qt-Green-Denatured-Alcohol-QKGA75003/202249513
8. Vinegar
Already have
9. Ammonia
http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-64-oz-Lemon-Ammonia-19718615031/202676388
10. Hydrochloric acid
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-gal-Green-Muriatic-Acid-GKGM75006/202690263
11. Nitric acid
Sulfuric acid of a higher concentration that I will synthesize from the 5% by boiling
12. Dry Ice (I will dump it in the bucket underneath so CO2 goes up)
785 East El Camino Real. Sunnyvale, CA 94087
13. Liquid Chlorine Bleach
Already have
14. Hydrogen Peroxide
http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-hydrogen-peroxide-3-first-aid-antiseptic/ID=prod6056574-product
15. Nothing
While purchasing these products and finding places to purchase these products, I have learned more about molarity and chemical calculations, how useful home depot is, and just general stuff about chemistry. While writing this blog post, my ideas have morphed so much and I think that's great. Coming into this blog post, I thought I just wouldn't be using sulfuric acid, nitric acid, or dry ice. Now I have an updated plan that still utilizes all 15 slabs.
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