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Posted by ravensworth2674 on January 15, 2008, 6:33 am
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wrote:
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>
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> >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 =A0hexacyanoferrates. Th=
e
> >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 agen=
t 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- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
David,
Hardite contained 20% Barium Chloride.
Our correspondent HAS half a tin of which the rest is presumably
potassium ferrocyanide. Enough to send an Australian synagogue into
some disarray?
Oh, Ravensworth 2674( the real bit) is within a Sabbath's Day journey
from the 2nd largest Talmudical College this side of the --------
Jordan.
Shalom
Norman
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