Found 2 liters of 70% nitric acid. What to do with it?

[WEsailedfromPeru]

I just happened to find TWO LITERS of 70% Nitric acid sitting in a bottle on a shelf in my garage. The bottle is clear glass, but it was encased in opaque styrofoam. I have no idea how old it is. What worries me is that the cap seems to be plastic and it's wrapped in electrical tape. :eek:

I'm new with chemistry and I don't have the equipment to handle this stuff, though I'd like to be sure it's stored safely so that I can use it when I acquire the tools and knowledge to. How do I store this stuff properly? What do I need to buy in order to handle and keep it safely?

This is sort of an insane story so thanks for sticking with me here. Hopefully, I'll find more rare chemicals stashed away in my garage!

[The_Duke]

Answers beyond your wildest dream await you, just follow the link...;)

Answers (http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/search.php)

Also note that we have a dedicated section here for nitric acid discussion, you have therefore broken several of our rules (n00bs starting new topics is also against the rules in most cases). These are only just a few reasons why we discourage most n00bs from starting new threads.

[Shalashaska]

As for using it, if you're not familiar with nitric acid at all, read up a lot (using link mentioned above ;)) about precautions and syntheses.
If you wanted to get into some serious stuff, you're going to need to distill it to get upwards of 90%, but what you've got now should do you for nitroglycerin, E/PGDN, and various mono, di, and tri nitrations, depending on the specific compound.

[megalomania]

I'll give you the same answer I give to anyone who tells me they found a chemical and wants to know what to do with it: Give it to me...

Hmm, I must be confused because I thought this was chemistryquestion.com for a second. That's the place you want to ask a loaded question about what you can "do" with one of the top 20 most important industrial and laboratory chemicals of all time... How about asking something easy like solving the unified field theory?

The answer your safety concerns in a manner understandable to the non chemically trained: Treat the nitric acid like it was a bottle of some strangers urine. That is don't sniff it, don't spill it, don't get any on you, wash it up right away should any leak, and handle the bottle in such a way to prevent any of the aforementioned dont's. Don't do anything with a strong acid that you would not do with some guys rancid purified stinky urine.

[WEsailedfromPeru]

It even looks like urine! But after reading what I have, I've got so much more respect for it. I'm definitely going to keep it and work on planning a process to up the concentration.

I'm sorry I missed the entire nitric acid section here. Thanks for moving the topic.

[209]

No sense starting a new thread for this, but have a question about some acid I recently aquired. I aquired about 340 mL of Nitric acid, the bottle was labeled nitric acid, and has all the properties and characteristics, yet the label had no markings about how old or the concentration.

When the bottle is opened, white fumes can easily be seen coming of the nitric acid. I am assuming that this nitric has a higher concentraion than 75% but can anyone estimate the range?? (I also know for a fact that it is infact nitric acid).

[The_Duke]

209, how many times must we tell you to UTFSE before it finally sinks in through your thick skull? Its really no wonder why your rep is in the negative.

Try measuring the density for starters... :rolleyes: