• Question: what type of corrosive substance is the most strongest?

    Asked by xoil to Ailsa, Evan, James, Kath, Ryan on 14 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: James Hargreaves

      James Hargreaves answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      in my guess i’d probably say fluoroantimonic acid or hydrofluoric acid. Both will dissolve glass.
      On the other hand if talking about a gas i’dn say fluorine.

      Maybe the other scientists can shed more light on this?

    • Photo: Evan Keane

      Evan Keane answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I am not an expert on this, but I have heard of the substances that James just mentioned – my guess would also be flourine. If I’ve heard of them it must mean they are quite corrosive! But I don’t know what the most corrosive. 🙂

    • Photo: Ailsa Powell

      Ailsa Powell answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      James has named some pretty corrosive and nasty acids there and certainly they are not chemicals I’d like to work with if I could help it.
      Certainly the worst acids I have dealt with are perchloric acid – a precursor to rocket fuel (which means it can be explosive!) and one of the strongest acids around and also concentrated sulphuric acid – I had a 2 litre bottle break once – someone had got water into the jar, luckily I managed to get it to a sink before the heat from the reaction cut the glass bottle cleanly into two right round the top of where the acid came to – a very scary moment!
      However, the most painful chemicals burns I have had are from alkalis solutions and not from acids.

    • Photo: Ryan Ladd

      Ryan Ladd answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      These answers probably cover the most dangerous but I would say the most damaging corrosive substance is probably the sea! Not as exciting perhaps but salt water is probably responsible for billions of pounds worth of damage and millions of pounds worth of research a year! Either that or Alien blood…

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