ACID EXPLOSION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11800, 11 September 1916, Page 3

ACID EXPLOSION.

TEE AUCKLAND CCIBENT.

Sulphuric acid, which caused injuries to thirteen men in Auckland on Thursday night, is the chemical name for the liquid commonly known as oil of vitriol, so called from the fact of its having been first produced by the distillation of green vitriol or sulphate of iron. It is one of the most important of chemicals on account of the large number of industries in which it has a place. It i.s odourless, dense, and oily-looking. Its chemical analysis it contains two parts, by weight, of hydrogen, one part of sulphur, and four parts of oxyyen. Sulphuric aciil i.s produced to :i limited extent in New Zealand, one of the places at which it is manufactured being tho chemical works at Westfield. It is the basis or .starting point of a large number of chemical industries. In New Zealand it is chiefly used in the production of superphosphate, and in the generation of carbonic acid gas required for the manufacture of aerated waters. also a number of other uses. It is one of the principal acids used in the production of nitric acid and hydrochloric or muriatic acid. Sulphuric acid enters vciy largely into the manufacture of nitroglycerine, guncotton and other explosives, and is thus an important element in the. production of munitions by the nations engaged in the present war. For some years the price of sulphuric acid in the Dominion has been very high, and this has seriously hampered many industries that are dependent upon its_ use. The freight on importations is high owing to itsnature and the fact that if is necessary to carry it as deck cargo. Sulphuric acid is usually carried in iron drums, such as those that were being handled on the Monowai at the time of the accident. Exports find it difficult to account for such an explosion. Such explosions, it was stated, are rare. One expert, to whom the question was referred, stated that it was impossible to say definitely what caused the accident. It was possible, however, that it: may have been due to the presence of a quantity of water in tho drum. The prc-enee of water would cause the acid to ?.n act upon the iron a? to generate hydrogen r,'ns. and the pressure of this might lead to an explosion. One requirement in the safe handling ef the acid r, that it shrill be in a concentrated form free from the presence of water.

acid has a vory corrosive action on fiosh, this being duo to its avidity for the element'; of water. which it extmots from the fiosh on coming into contact with it. The acid combines with wafer with ,'iroai violence and "volution of heat, and is almost instantaneous in its net ion. The host treatment for a person hurtled with the i)cid i-. to ini-nerse hin.i in or delude him with. wit->:-. A *:•.,<•.!! quanliiv of v.-ativ w..uh! hare only ;i harmful effect, as it would intensify r]i-> action of the :tei'J.