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Asked by leightonwebberkane to Andrew, Janey P, Kinda, Ravi, SarahJane on 17 Jun 2013.
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Sarah-Jane Walsh answered on 17 Jun 2013:
Actually not all acids are poisonous. think about the foods you eat, lemon juice is acidic and so is vinegar. Fizzy drinks and alcohol can be as low as pH 3 which is highly acidic.
I think maybe you are referring to things like hydrochloric acid and things you might use in the classroom. Hydrochloric acid has a pH of about 1. We actually make hydrochloric acids in our own stomach, we can deal with it though as it is diluted. However if you drank hydrochloric acid which was concentrated it could burn your insides and stomach. So hydrochloric acid isn’t really a poison however it is highly corrosive and very dangerous in a concentrated form.
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Andrew Manches answered on 18 Jun 2013:
Do we answer all questions like this that I have no clue about? If so then the answer would have been exactly what Sarah-Jane wrote.
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Jane Paget answered on 20 Jun 2013:
Not all acids are poisonous or do you extensive harm. It depends largely on the pH (although not exclusively). The same can be said for bases. Chemicals which are highly basic can do just as much damage as acids.
Depending on what definition of acid you go for acids are damaging because that donate a proton/accept an electron. The chemical process reacts with the proteins of your skin and body (breaks the chemical bonds).
Acids aren’t all that bad. The stomach contains hydrochloric acid and has a pH of approx. 3. This is to help kill any invading bacteria and aid digestion.
Comments
SarahJane commented on :
I think part of this event is that we know how to access this information reliably, so even if its something which may not be our area we know how we can find the facts pretty quickly! I though back to my freshman year at university, it would take me hours to find something which now takes me a few minutes!