GOLD TESTING ACIDS   SAFETY PRECAUTIONS KEEP IT AWAY FROM CHILDREN Burns to skin or clothes should be washed with copious amounts of water and neutralized with bicarbonate of soda; if bicarbonate of soda is not to hand, don't waste time looking for some, just use water. In the case of contact with eyes wash with plenty of water, preferably under a tap for at least ten minutes, and seek medical advice. If you think you have a leaking bottle of acid scroll to the bottom of this page or click here. Please treat the acid with great respect, it is a dangerous chemical, treat it as if it were bleach or ammonia or any other corrosive household product, it will cause great damage if spilt on fabric, it can cause serious injury if splashed in the eye. But please do not over-react, you would not evacuate the house and call out the army if you spilt a bottle of bleach, similarly there is not need to panic if you spill a bottle of acid, just follow the safety precautions. To put the risk into perspective here  are four short 'case histories.'    THE CASE OF THE STAINED HAND A lady appeared at the QUICKTEST stand at an antiques fair.  She had spilt acid over her hands a few days previously.  She said, "It's stained my hands yellow and I've tried everything to wash it off and my hands are still yellow, what should I use to clean them?"  She was horrified to learn that the 'yellow stain' was, in fact, a chemical burn and was not going to 'wash off'.  But she was relieved to hear that the skin would grow back in a few weeks.   Conclusion If you do have an accident with the acid, don't panic, just keep calm and wash the acid off under the tap:  see the safety precautions.   THE CASE OF THE SUDDEN ILLNESS A gentleman telephoned to say that he had used the acid, had accidentally sniffed some of the fumes, and a few hours later he felt sick and dizzy.  He went to his G.P. who said that it was most unlikely that his symptoms had anything to do with the acid.  Conclusion Regarding sniffing acid: it is not to be advised, and certainly not on a regular basis, it is not good for the lungs.  However, don't panic if you accidentally sniff it, at worst it will make you cough.  Jewellers who have various bottles, old and new, will often sort the old from the new by deliberately sniffing the fumes, if it makes them cough and splutter it's a fresh bottle...but this is not to be advised, it's not good for the lungs. If you don't feel well you might be ill, quite irrespective of the acid, so please do whatever you usually do when you feel ill. However, if you work with other chemicals that also produce fumes, especially if you don't have adequate ventilation, it is possible that the combination of fumes could make you ill. Incidentally, acid-sniffing has no 'psychological effect', it does not make the sniffer feel 'good' in any way, the most they will ever get out of it is a headache.    THE CASE OF THE CHILD A distraught father telephoned.  He had been using the acid and, against all the warnings, had left the cap off, had left it within reach of a two-year-old, and had then left the room.  The child spilt the acid down her leg, the parents did not follow the safety precautions, did not wash the acid off, and by the time the child arrived at hospital the acid had burnt down to the bone, she needed major surgery and will be scarred for life. Conclusion Treat the acid as you would any other household chemical:  bleach, ammonia etc THE CASE OF THE IRRITABLE EYE A customer telephoned to say his friend thought he (the friend) might have got some acid in his eye. I asked when this happened and he said a few minutes ago; I asked where the friend was and he said, standing right here; I asked how sore the eye felt and he asked his friend and his friend said quite sore; I gave the official advice which is to hold the eye open under a running tap for at least ten minutes; he asked if he should seek medical advice and (since he had asked me) I said yes - I had to assume he had got acid in his eye, I couldn't possibly tell him, "It's probably nothing" when I had no way of knowing. Conclusion Please be aware of two extremes. If the person is screaming with pain as their eye dissolves into their brain, do not telephone me for advice, get that eye forced open under a running tap and dial 999. At the other extreme, if you think you may have had some acid on your finger and rubbed your eye and you really don't know if you've rubbed in dirt or acid (this is something I've done myself, many times - note how black your hands become from dirt when handling old jewellery!) - keep calm, the eye feeling 'quite irritable' does not constitute a major injury, give it a good wash and see how you feel later.     SAFETY PRECAUTIONS KEEP IT AWAY FROM CHILDREN Burns to skin or clothes should be washed with copious amounts of water and neutralized with bicarbonate of soda; if bicarbonate of soda is not to hand, don't waste time looking for some, just use water. In the case of contact with eyes wash with plenty of water, preferably under a tap for at least ten minutes, and seek medical advice.     IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A LEAKING BOTTLE UPON DELIVERY Which bottle is leaking? Take the tin with the bottles to the sink so that you can wash your hands if you get any acid on them. Find some tissue (eg kitchen towel, toilet paper, paper tissues) and use them to lift each bottle carefully out of the tin. Do this on the draining board and hold each bottle over the sink, take care not to get any of the acid on fabric or furniture. Wipe each bottle dry (the acid will stain the tissue yellow) and place on the draining board. Wait a minute or two then wipe each one again. It should now be obvious as to which bottle is leaking. No bottles leaking?? It can happen that none of the bottles appear to be leaking. In this case, wait a few minutes and wipe each bottle again. If, still, none appear to be leaking, examine each carefully by looking at the lid to see if the shrink-cap is white and intact or has turned dark and wet. If all three caps are clean and intact, hold each bottle up to the light to look for hairline cracks. If all three bottle appear to be perfect (and are all full with acid) then the probable cause is the other chemical we use: water. The shrink-caps are stored in water. When they are slipped onto the bottle they dry out and as they dry out they shrink. In theory we should always have a stack of bottles that are sealed, but in practice we often don't get round to sealing the bottles until the last minute, and that can mean putting them in the tin while the shrink-seals are still wet, which can make the tissue wet. Water is so corrosive that it rusts the inside of the tin within a few hours. Destroy the acid in the leaking bottle Turn the taps on. Gently pour the acid into the water that is flowing across the sink. Then thoroughly wash the bottle and the inside of the cap under the tap (you may wish to turn the tap down to a trickle so that it doesn't splash). This is safe, this is the way acids are destroyed in laboratories. Now you need a replacement Please tell us which bottle has leaked. We can then send you a replacement. Finally Please return the empty washed-out-clean bottle and cap so that we can carry out our own investigation to find out why it leaked. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS KEEP IT AWAY FROM CHILDREN Burns to skin or clothes should be washed with copious amounts of water and neutralized with bicarbonate of soda; if bicarbonate of soda is not to hand, don't waste time looking for some, just use water. In the case of contact with eyes wash with plenty of water, preferably under a tap for at least ten minutes, and seek medical advice.