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Posted by David Littlewood on January 14, 2008, 5:42 pm
Please log in for more thread options >On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:36:42 -0800 (PST), ravensworth2674
>
>>
>>
>>I haven't a clue of what went on in the Geisha World of Japan in the
>>14th Century but I know pretty well what went on in what was virtually
>>my own back door.
>>
>>The word which comes to mind in an old unproven tin of 'jollop' is not
>>what it might do with a chunk of steel but whether it contains cyanide
>>for starters!
>>
>>Come on- it's raw chemistry not physics!
>
>
>There are major differences between cyanides and hexacyanoferrates. The
>former are used in some plating baths, some gaseous and liquid hardening
>processes and for killing religious nutters. The latter are used in case
>hardening powders along with barium carbonate and as the anti caking agent in
>icing sugar.
>
>It's chemistry :-)
>
Yes, well, bear in mind that barium salts are about as poisonous as
cyanide (albeit quite a lot slower). Barium carbonate is insoluble in
water, but unfortunately it will readily dissolve in dilute hydrochloric
acid (which is, for this purpose, what the digestive juices in your
stomach are). I know some recipes use Ba salts (e.g. the one in Guy
Lautard's books) but in view of the fact that they are mostly S1
poisons* I doubt if you would be able to buy mixtures which did contain
Ba.
Also, hexacyanoferrates give off lethal HCN when heated with dilute
mineral acid - for example sulphuric or hydrochloric, just the kind of
things you might use as a pickling bath. I remember doing this over a
candle in the garden (in case I passed out) to learn the smell in my
mis-spent teens.
I don't think there would be any reason to panic, just take sensible
precautions - do it in a well-ventilated space (or outside), don't
ingest the stuff, and don't heat it or its remnants in acid.
*Except BaSO4, used in medical imaging, which is very highly insoluble
and does not dissolve in acids, so cannot (by normal methods) be made
lethal.
David
--
David Littlewood
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> hardening compounds or mixtures were banned.
>
> Anyone dying to tell me otherwise?